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PRINCETON,    N.    J. 


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«»  Part  -of  the 

t       ADDISON     ALEXANDER    LIBRARY,  "J  . 

which  was  presented  by  (V 

Mkssrs.  R.  L.  anp  a.  Stuart.  \J 


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HOKJ;   PAULINJE; 


THE    TRUTH 


THE  SCRIPTURE  HISTORY  OF  ST.  PAUL  EVINCED. 


BY 

WILLIAM    PALEY,    D.D. 

ARCHDEACON    OF    CARLISLE. 


NEW   YORK: 

ROBi!.RT    CARTER    &    BROTHERS 

No.    285    BROADWAY. 

1849. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 
Exposition  of  the  Argument 5 

CHAPTER  n. 
The  Epistle  to  the  Romans 16 

CHAPTER  m. 
The  First  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians       ....      43 

CHAPTER  IV. 
The  Second  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians    ....      63 

CHAPTER  V. 

The  Epistle  to  the  Galatians 96 

CHAPTER  VI. 

The  Second  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians        .        ,        .         .128 

CHAPTER  VII. 
The  Epistle  to  the  Philippians 166 

CHAPTER  Vm. 
The  Epistle  to  the  Colossians 170 

CHAPTER  IX. 

The  First  Epistle  to  the  Thessalonl&.ns  .        .        .        .179 

CHAPTER  X. 

The  Second  Epistle  to  the  Thessalonians        .        .        .190 


IV  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XI. 

FAOC 

The  First  Epistle  to  Timothy 197 

CHAPTER  Xn. 
The  Second  Epistle  to  Timothy 207 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
The  Epistle  to  Titus 218 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
The  Epistle  to  Philemon 226 

CHAPTER  XV. 
The  Subscriptions  of  the  Epistles 232 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
The  Conclusion 237 


THE    TRUTH 


or   THE 


SCRIPTURE  HISTORY  OF  SAINT  PAUL  EYINCED. 


CHAPTER  I. 

EXPOSITION    OF    THE    ARGUMENT. 

The  volume  of  Christian  Scriptures  contains  thirteen  let- 
ters purporting  to  be  written  by  St.  Paul ;  it  contains  also 
a  book  which,  amongst  other  things,  professes  to  deliver 
the  history,  or  rather  memoirs  of  the  history,  of  this  same 
person.  By  assuming  the  genuineness  of  the  letters,  we 
may  prove  the  substantial  truth  of  the  history ;  or,  by  as- 
suming the  truth  of  the  history,  we  may  argue  strongly 
in  support  of  the  genuineness  of  the  letters.  But  I  assume 
neither  the  one  nor  the  other.  The  reader  is  at  liberty 
to  suppose  these  writings  to  have  lately  been  discovered 
in  the  library  of  the  Escurial,  and  to  come  to  our  hands 
destitute  of  any  extrinsic  or  collateral  evidence  whatever  ; 
and  the  argument  I  am  about  to  offer  is  calculated  to 
show  that  a  comparison  of  the  different  writings  would, 
even  under  these  circumstances,  afford  good  reason  to 
believe  the  persons  and  transactions  to  have  been  real, 
the  letters  authentic,  and  the  narration,  in  the  main,  to  be 
true. 

Agreement  or  conformity  between  letters  bearing  the 


6  EXPOSITION    OF    THE    ARGUMENT. 

name  of  an  ancient  author,  and  a  received  history  of  that 
author's  life,  does  not  necessarily  establish  the  credit  of 
either :  because, 

1.  The  history  may,  like  Middleton's  Life  of  Cicero,  or 
Jortin's  Life  of  Erasmus,  have  been  wholly,  or  in  part, 
compiled  from  the  letters ;  in  v^hich  case  it  is  manifest 
that  the  history  adds  nothing  to  the  evidence  already  af- 
forded by  the  letters :  or, 

2.  The  letters  may  have  been  fabricated  out  of  the 
history ;  a  species  of  imposture  vsrhich  is  certainly  prac- 
ticable ;  and  which,  without  any  accession  of  proof  or 
authority,  would  necessarily  produce  the  appearance  of 
consistency  and  agreement :  or, 

3.  The  history  and  letters  may  have  been  founded  upon 
some  authority  common  to  both  ;  as  upon  reports  and  tra- 
ditions which  prevailed  in  the  age  in  which  they  were  com- 
posed, or  upon  some  ancient  record  now  lost,  which  both 
writers  consulted  ;  in  which  case,  also,  the  letters,  without 
being  genuine,  may  exhibit  marks  of  conformity  with  the 
history ;  and  the  history,  without  being  true,  may  agree 
with  the  letters. 

Agreement  therefore,  or  conformity,  is  only  to  be  relied 
upon  so  far  as  we  can  exclude  these  several  suppositions. 
Now  the  point  to  be  noticed  is,  that,  in  the  three  cases 
above  enumerated,  conformity  must  be  the  effect  of  de- 
sign. Where  the  history  is  compiled  from  the  letters, 
which  is  the  first  case,  the  design  and  composition  of  the 
work  are  in  general  so  confessed,  or  made  so  evident  by 
comparison,  as  to  leave  us  in  no  danger  of  confounding 
the  production  of  the  original  history,  or  of  mistaking  it 
for  an  independent  authority.  The  agreement,  it  is  prob- 
able, will  be  close  and  uniform,  and  will  easily  be  per- 
ceived to  result  from  the  intention  of  the  author,  and  from 
the  plan  and  conduct  of  his  work. — Where  the  letters  are 


EXPOSITION    OF    THE    ARGUMENT.  7 

fabricated  from  the  history,  which  is  the  second  case,  it 
is  always  for  the  purpose  of  imposing  a  forgery  upon  the 
public ;  and,  in  order  to  give  color  and  probability  to  the 
fraud,  names,  places,  and  circumstances,  found  in  the  his- 
tory, may  be  studiously  introduced  into  the  letters,  as 
well  as  a  general  consistency  be  endeavored  to  be  main- 
tained. But  here  it  is  manifest  that  whatever  congruity 
appears  is  the  consequence  of  meditation,  artifice,  and  de- 
sign.— The  third  case  is  that  wherein  the  history  and  the 
letters,  without  any  direct  privity  or  communication  with 
each  other,  derive  their  materials  from  the  same  source  ; 
and,  by  reason  of  their  common  original,  furnish  instances 
of  accordance  and  correspondency.  This  is  a  situation 
in  which  we  must  allow  it  to  be  possible  for  ancient  writ- 
ings to  be  placed ;  and  it  is  a  situation  in  which  it  is  more 
difficult  to  distinguish  spurious  from  genuine  writings  than 
in  either  of  the  cases  described  in  the  preceding  supposi- 
tions ;  inasmuch  as  the  congruities  observable  are  so  far 
accidental,  as  that  they  are  not  produced  by  the  im- 
mediate transplanting  of  names  and  circumstances  out  of 
one  writing  into  the  other.  But  although,  with  respect 
to  each  other,  the  agreement  in  these  writings  be  medi- 
ate and  secondary,  yet  is  it  not  properly  or  absolutely  un- 
designed ;  because,  with  respect  to  the  common  original 
from  which  the  information  of  the  writers  proceeds,  it  is 
studied  and  factitious.  The  case  of  which  we  treat  must, 
as  to  the  letters,  be  a  case  of  forgery ;  and  when  the 
writer  who  is  personating  another  sits  down  to  his  com- 
position— whether  he  have  the  history  with  which  we 
now  compare  the  letters,  or  some  other  record,  before 
him ;  or  whether  he  have  only  loose  tradition  and  reports 
to  go  by — he  must  adapt  his  imposture,  as  well  as  he  can, 
to  what  he  finds  in  these  accounts ;  and  his  adaptations 
will  be  the  result  of  counsel,  scheme,  and  industry ;  art 


8  EXPOSITION    OF    THE    ARGUMENT. 

must  be  employed  ;  and  vestiges  will  appear  of  manage- 
ment and  design.  Add  to  this,  that,  in  most  of  the  follow- 
ing examples,  the  circumstances  in  which  the  coincidence 
is  remarked  are  of  too  particular  and  domestic  a  nature 
to  have  floated  down  upon  the  stream  of  general  tradition. 

Of  the  three  cases  which  we  have  stated,  the  difference 
between  the  first  and  the  two  others  is,  that  in  the  first 
the  design  may  be  fair  and  honest,  in  the  others  it  must 
be  accompanied  with  the  consciousness  of  fraud;  but  in 
all  there  is  design.  In  examining,  therefore,  the  agree- 
ment between  ancient  writings,  the  character  of  truth  and 
originality  is  undesignedness  :  and  this  test  applies  to 
every  supposition  ;  for,  whether  we  suppose  the  history  to 
be  true,  but  the  letters  spurious ;  or,  the  letters  to  be  gen- 
uine, but  the  history  false ;  or,  lastly,  falsehood  to  belong 
to  both — the  history  to  be  a  fable,  and  the  letters  fictitious  ; 
the  same  inference  will  result — that  either  there  will  be 
no  agreement  between  them,  or  the  agreement  will  be 
the  effect  of  design.  Nor  will  it  elude  the  principle  of 
this  rule,  to  suppose  the  same  person  to  have  been  the  au- 
thor of  all  the  letters,  or  even  the  author  both  of  the  let- 
ters and  the  history ;  for  no  less  design  is  necessary  to 
produce  coincidence  between  different  parts  of  a  man's 
own  writings,  especially  when  they  are  made  to  take  the 
different  forms  of  a  history  and  of  original  letters,  than  to 
adjust  them  to  the  circumstances  found  in  any  other  writ- 
ing. 

With  respect  to  those  writings  of  the  New  Testament 
which  are  to  be  the  subject  of  our  present  consideration, 
I  think  that,  as  to  the  authenticity  of  the  epistles,  this  ar- 
gument, where  it  is  sufficiently  sustained  by  instances,  is 
nearly  conclusive ;  for  I  cannot  assign  a  supposition  of 
forgery,  in  which  coincidences  of  the  kind  we  inquire 
after  are  likely  to  appear.     As  to  the  history,  it  extends 


EXPOSITION    OF    THE    ARGUMENT.  9 

to  these  points  : — It  approves  the  general  reality  of  the 
circumstances  :  it  proves  the  historian's  know^ledge  of 
these  circumstances.  In  the  present  instance  it  confirms 
his  pretensions  of  having  been  a  contemporary,  and  in  the 
latter  part  of  his  history  a  companion,  of  St.  Paul.  In  a 
word,  it  establishes  the  substantial  truth  of  the  narration; 
and  substantial  truth  is  that  v^^hich,  in  every  historical  in- 
quiry, ought  to  be  the  first  thing  sought  after  and  ascer- 
tained :  it  must  be  the  groundwork  of  every  other  ob- 
servation. 

The  reader,  then,  will  please  to  remember  this  word 
undesignedness,  as  denoting  that  upon  which  the  con- 
struction and  validity  of  our  argument  chiefly  depend. 

As  to  the  proofs  of  undesignedness,  I  shall  in  this  place 
say  little  :  for  I  had  rather  the  reader's  persuasion  should 
arise  from  the  instances  themselves,  and  the  separate  re- 
marks with  which  they  may  be  accompanied,  than  from 
any  previous  formulary  or  description  of  argument.  In 
a  great  plurality  of  examples,  I  trust  he  will  be  perfectly 
convinced  that  no  design  or  contrivance  whatever  has 
been  exercised  ;  and.  if  some  of  the  coincidences  alleged 
appear  to  be  minute,  circuitous,  or  oblique,  let  him  reflect 
that  this  very  indirectness  and  subtilty  is  that  which  gives 
force  and  propriety  to  the  example.  Broad,  obvious,  and 
explicit  agreements  prove  little  ;  because  it  may  be  sug- 
gested that  the  insertion  of  such  is  the  ordinary  expedient 
of  every  forgery  :  and,  though  they  may  occur,  and  prob- 
ably will  occur,  in  genuine  writings,  yet  it  cannot  be 
proved  that  they  are  peculiar  to  these.  Thus  what  St. 
Paul  declares,  in  chap.  xi.  of  1  Cor.,  concerning  the  in- 
stitution of  the  eucharist — "  For  I  have  received  of  the 
Lord  that  which  I  also  delivered  unto  you,  that  the  Lord 
Jesus,  the  same  night  in  which  he  was  betrayed,  took 
bread  ;  and,  when  he  had  given  thanks,  he  brake  it,  and 

1* 


10  EXPOSITION    OF    THE    ARGUMENT. 

said,  Take,  eat ;  this  is  my  body,  which  is  broken  for 
you  ;  this  do  in  remembrance  of  me  ;" — though  it  be  in 
close  and  verbal  conformity  with  the  account  of  the  same 
transaction  preserved  by  St.  Luke,  is  yet  a  conformity 
of  which  no  use  can  be  made  in  our  argument ;  for,  if  it 
should  be  objected  that  this  was  a  mere  recital  from  the 
Gospel,  borrowed  by  the  author  of  the  epistle,  for  the 
purpose  of  setting  off  his  composition  by  an  appearance 
of  agreement  with  the  received  account  of  the  Lord's 
supper,  I  should  not  know  how  to  repel  the  insinuation. 
In  like  manner,  the  description  which  St.  Paul  gives  of 
himself  in  his  Epistle  to  the  Philippians  (iii.,  5) — "  Circum- 
cised the  eighth  day,  of  the  stock  of  Israel,  of  the  tribe 
of  Benjamin,  an  Hebrew  of  the  Hebrews  ;  as  touching 
the  law,  a  Pharisee ;  concerning  zeal,  persecuting  the 
Church  ;  touching  the  righteousness  which  is  in  the  law, 
blameless  ;" — is  made  up  of  particulars  so  plainly  deliv- 
ered concerning  him  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  the 
Epistle  to  the  Romans,  and  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians, 
that  I  cannot  deny  but  that  it  would  be  easy  for  an  im- 
postor, who  was  fabricating  a  letter  in  the  name  of  St. 
Paul,  to  collect  these  articles  into  one  view.  This,  there- 
fore, is  a  conformity  which  we  do  not  adduce.  But,  when 
I  read,  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  that,  when  "  Paul 
came  to  Derbe  and  Lystra,  behold  a  certain  disciple  was 
there,  named  Timotheus,  the  son  of  a  certain  woman 
which  was  a  Jewess  ;"  and  when,  in  an  epistle  addressed 
to  Timothy,  I  find  him  reminded  of  his  "  having  known 
the  Holy  Scriptures  from  a  child''  which  implies  that  he 
must,  on  one  side  or  both,  have  been  brought  up  by  Jewish 
parents  ;  I  conceive  that  I  remark  a  coincidence  which 
shows,  by  its  very  obliquity,  that  scheme  was  not  em- 
ployed in  its  formation.  In  like  manner,  if  a  coincidence 
depend  upon  a  comparison  of  dates,  or  rather  of  circum- 


EXPOSITION    OF    THE    ARGUMENT.  11 

Stances  from  which  the  dates  are  gathered — the  more  in- 
tricate that  comparison  shall  be  ;  the  more  numerous  the 
intermediate  steps  through  which  the  conclusion  is  de- 
duced ;  in  a  word,  the  more  circuitous  the  investigation 
is,  the  better,  because  the  agreement  which  finally  results 
is  thereby  farther  removed  from  the  suspicion  of  con- 
trivance, affectation,  or  design.  And  it  should  be  re- 
membered, concerning  these  coincidences,  that  it  is  one 
thing  to  be  minute,  and  another  to  be  precarious  ;  one 
thing  to  be  unobserved,  and  another  to  be  obscure ;  one 
thing  to  be  circuitous  or  oblique,  and  another  to  be  forced, 
dubious,  or  fanciful.  And  this  distinction  ought  always 
to  be  retained  in  our  thoughts. 

The  very  particularity  of  St.  Paul's  epistles  ;  the  per- 
petual recurrence  of  names  of  persons  and  places ;  the 
frequent  allusions  to  the  incidents  of  his  private  life,  and 
the  circumstances  of  his  condition  and  history ;  and  the 
connection  and  parallelism  of  these  with  the  same  cir- 
cumstances in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  so  as  to  enable 
us,  for  the  most  part,  to  confront  them  with  one  another ; 
as  well  as  the  relation  which  subsists  between  the  circum- 
stances, as  mentioned  or  referred  to  in  the  different  epis- 
tles— afford  no  inconsiderable  proof  of  the  genuineness 
of  the  writings,  and  the  reality  of  the  transactions.  For, 
as  no  advertency  is  sufficient  to  guard  against  slips  and 
contradictions,  when  circumstances  are  multiplied,  and 
when  they  are  liable  to  be  detected  by  contemporary 
accounts  equally  circumstantial,  an  impostor,  I  should 
expect,  would  either  have  avoided  particulars  entirely, 
contenting  himself  with  the  doctrinal  discussions,  moral 
precepts,  and  general  reflections  ;*  or  if,  for  the  sake  of 

*  This,  however,  must  not  be  misunderstood,  A  person  writing  to  his 
friends,  and  upon  a  subject  in  which  the  transactions  of  his  life  were  con- 
cerned, would  probably  be  led  in  the  course  of  his  letter,  especially  if  it  was 


10  EXPOSITION    OF    THE    ARGUMENT. 

imitating  St.  Paul's  style,  he  should  have  thought  it  nec- 
essary to  intersperse  his  composition  with  names  and 
circumstances,  he  would  have  placed  them  out  of  the 
reach  of  comparison  with  the  history.  And  I  am  con- 
firmed in  this  opinion  by  the  inspection  of  two  attempts 
to  counterfeit  St.  Paul's  epistles,  which  have  come  down 
to  us  ;  and  the  only  attempts,  of  which  we  have  any 
knowledge,  that  are  at  all  deserving  of  regard.  One  of 
these  is  an  epistle  to  the  Laodiceans,  extant  in  Latin,  and 
preserved  by  Fabricius,  in  his  collection  of  apocryphal 
scriptures.  The  other  purports  to  be  an  epistle  of  St. 
Paul  to  the  Corinthians,  in  answer  to  an  epistle  from  the 
Corinthians  to  him.  This  was  translated  by  Scroderus, 
from  a  copy  in  the  Armenian  language  which  had  been 
sent  to  W.  Whiston,  and  was  afterwards,  from  a  more 
perfect  copy,  procured  at  Aleppo,  published  by  his  sons, 
as  an  appendix  to  their  edition  of  Moses  Chorenensis.  No 
Greek  copy  exists  of  either :  they  are  not  only  not  sup- 
ported by  ancient  testimony,  but  they  are  negatived  and 
excluded  ;  as  they  have  never  found  admission  into  any 
catalogue  of  apostolical  writings,  acknowledged  by,  or 
known  to,  the  early  ages  of  Christianity.  In  the  first  of 
these  I  found,  as  I  expected,  a  total  evitation  of  circum- 
stances. It  is  simply  a  collection  of  sentences  from  the 
canonical  epistles,  strung  together  with  very  little  skill. 
The  second,  which  is  a  more  versute  and  specious  forgery, 

a  long  one,  to  refer  to  passages  found  in  his  history.  A  person  addressintr 
an  epistle  to  the  pubUc  at  large,  or  under  the  form  of  an  epistle  delivering  a 
discourse  upon  some  speculative  argument,  would  not,  it  is  probable,  meet 
with  an  occasion  of  alluding  to  the  circumstances  of  his  life  at  all ;  he  might 
or  he  might  not ;  the  chance  on  either  side  is  nearly  equal.  This  is  the  sit- 
uation of  the  catholic  epistles.  Although,  therefore,  the  presence  of  these 
allusions  and  agreements  be  a  valuable  accession  to  the  arguments  by  which 
the  authenticity  of  a  letter  is  maintained,  yet  the  want  of  them  certainly 
forms  no  positive  objection. 


EXPOSITION    OF    THE    ARGUMENT.  13 

is  introduced  with  a  list  of  names  of  persons  who  wrote 
to  St.  Paul  from  Corinth  ;  and  is  preceded  by  an  account 
sufficiently  particular  of  the  manner  in  which  the  epistle 
was  sent  from  Corinth  to  St.  Paul,  and  the  answer  re- 
turned. But  they  are  names  which  no  one  ever  heard 
of:  and  the  account  it  is  impossible  to  combine  with  any 
thing  found  in  the  Acts,  or  in  the  other  epistles.  It  is 
not  necessary  for  me  to  point  out  the  internal  marks  of 
spuriousness  and  imposture  which  these  compositions  be- 
tray ;  but  it  was  necessary  to  observe  that  they  do  not 
afford  those  coincidences  which  we  propose  as  proofs  of 
authenticity  in  the  epistles  which  we  defend. 

Having  explained  the  general  scheme  and  formation 
of  the  argument,  I  may  be  permitted  to  subjoin  a  brief 
account  of  the  manner  of  conducting  it. 

I  have  disposed  the  several  instances  of  agreement  un- 
der separate  numbers  ;  as  well  to  mark  more  sensibly  the 
divisions  of  the  subject,  as  for  another  purpose,  viz.,  that 
the  reader  may  thereby  be  reminded  that  the  instances 
are  independent  of  one  another.  I  have  advanced  noth- 
ing which  I  did  not  think  probable ;  but  the  degree  of 
probability  by  which  different  instances  are  supported  is 
undoubtedly  very  different.  If  the  reader,  therefore  meets 
with  a  number  which  contains  an  instance  that  appears 
to  him  unsatisfactory,  or  founded  in  mistake,  he  will  dis- 
miss that  number  from  the  argument,  but  without  preju- 
dice to  any  other.  He  will  have  occasion  also  to  observe 
that  the  coincidences  discoverable  in  some  epistles  are 
much  fewer  and  weaker  than  what  are  supplied  by  others. 
But  he  will  add  to  his  observation  this  important  circum- 
stance— that  whatever  ascertains  the  original  of  one  epis- 
tle, in  some  measure,  establishes  the  authority  of  the  rest. 
For,  whether  these  epistles  be  genuine  or  spurious,  every 
thing  about  them  indicates  that  they  come  from  the  same 


14  EXPOSITION    OF    THE    ARGUMENT. 

hand.  The  diction,  which  it  is  extremely  difficult  to  imi. 
tate,  preserves  its  resemblance  and  peculiarity  through- 
out all  the  epistles.  Numerous  expressions  and  singulari- 
ties of  style,  found  in  no  other  part  of  the  New  Testament, 
are  repeated  in  different  epistles ;  and  occur  in  their  re- 
spective places,  without  the  smallest  appearance  of  force 
or  art.  An  involved  argumentation,  frequent  obscurities, 
especially  in  the  order  and  transition  of  thought,  piety, 
vehemence,  affection,  bursts  of  rapture,  and  of  unparal- 
leled sublimity,  are  properties,  all,  or  most  of  them,  dis- 
cernible in  every  letter  of  the  collection.  But,  although 
these  epistles  bear  strong  marks  of  proceeding  from  the 
same  hand,  I  think  it  is  still  more  certain  that  they  were 
originally  separate  publications.  They  form  no  con- 
tinued story  ;  they  compose  no  regular  correspondence ; 
they  comprise  not  the  transactions  of  any  particular  pe- 
riod ;  they  carry  on  no  connection  of  argument ;  they  de- 
pend not  upon  one  another ;  except  in  one  or  two  instan- 
ces, they  refer  not  to  one  another.  I  will  farther  under- 
take to  say,  that  no  study  or  care  has  been  employed 
to  produce  or  preserve  an  appearance  of  consistency 
amongst  them.  All  which  observations  show  that  they 
were  not  intended  by  the  person,  whoever  he  was,  that 
wrote  them,  to  come  forth  or  be  read  together  ;  that  they 
appeared  at  first  separately,  and  have  been  collected 
since. 

The  proper  purpose  of  the  following  work  is  to  bring 
together,  from  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  and  from  the  dif- 
ferent epistles,  such  passages  as  furnish  examples  of  un- 
designed coincidence ;  but  I  have  so  far  enlarged  upon 
this  plan  as  to  take  into  it  some  circumstances,  found  in 
the  epistles,  which  contributed  strength  to  the  conclusion, 
though  not  strictly  objects  of  comparison. 

It  appeared  also  a  part  of  the  same  plan  to  examine  the 


# 


EXPOSITION    OF    THE    ARGUMENT.  15 

difficulties  which  presented  themselves  in  the  course  of 
our  inquiry. 

I  do  not  know  that  the  subject  has  been  proposed  or 
considered  in  this  view  before.  Ludovicus^  Capellus, 
Bishop  Pearson,  Dr.  Benson,  and  Dr.  Lardner,  have  each 
given  a  continued  history  of  St.  Paul  s  life,  made  up  from 
the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  and  the  epistles  joined  together. 
But  this,  it  is  manifest,  is  a  different  undertaking  from  the 
present,  and  directed  to  a  different  purpose. 

If  what  is  here  offered  shall  add  one  thread  to  that  com- 
plication of  probabilities  by  which  the  Christian  history 
is  attested,  the  reader's  attention  will  be  repaid  by  the  su- 
preme importance  of  the  subject ;  and  my  design  will  be 
fully  answered. 

ii 


CHAPTER  11. 

THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE  ROMANS. 

No.   1. 

The  first  passage  I  shall  produce  from  this  epistle,  and 
upon  which  a  good  deal  of  observation  will  be  founded, 
is  the  following : 

"  But  now  I  go  unto  Jerusalem,  to  minister  unto  the 
saints ;  for  it  hath  pleased  them  of  Macedonia  and  Ach#ia 
to  make  a  certain  contribution  for  the  poor  saints  which 
are  at  Jerusalem."     Rom.  xv.  25,  26. 

In  this  quotation  three  distinct  circumstances  are  stated : 
a  contribution  in  Macedonia  for  the  relief  of  the  Chris- 
tians of  Jerusalem  ;  a  contribution  in  Achaia  for  the  same 
purpose ;  and  an  intended  journey  of  St.  Paul  to  Jerusa- 
lem. These  circumstances  are  stated  as  taking  place  at 
the  same  time,  and  that  to  be  the  time  when  the  epis- 
tle was  written.  Now  let  us  inquire  whether  we  can 
find  these  circumstances  elsewhere ;  and  whether,  if  we 
do  find  them,  they  meet  together  in  respect  of  date. 
Turn  to  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  chap,  xx.,  ver.  2,  3,  and 
you  read  the  following  account :  "  When  he  had  gone 
over  those  parts  {viz.  Macedonia),  and  had  given  them 
much  exhortation,  he  came  into  Greece,  and  there  abode 
three  months ;  and,  when  the  Jews  laid  wait  for  him,  as 
he  was  about  to  sail  into  Syria,  he  proposed  to  return 
through  Macedonia."  From  this  passage,  compared  with 
the  account  of  St.  Paul's  travels  given  before,  and  from 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    ROMANS.  17 

the  sequel  of  this  chapter,  it  appears  that  upon  St.  Paul's 
second  visit  to  the  peninsula  of  Greece,  his  intention  was, 
when  he  should  leave  the  country,  to  proceed  from 
Achaia  directly  hy  sea  to  Syria ;  but  that,  to  avoid  the 
Jews,  who  were  lying  in  wait  to  intercept  him  in  his  route, 
he  so  far  changed  his  purpose  as  to  go  back  through  Ma- 
cedonia, embark  at  Philippi,  and  pursue  his  voyage  from 
thence  towards  Jerusalem.  Here,  therefore,  is  a  journey 
to  Jerusalem  ;  but  not  a  syllable  of  any  contribution.  And, 
as  St.  Paul  had  taken  several  journeys  to  Jerusalem  be- 
fore, and  one  also  immediately  after  his  first  visit  into 
the  peninsula  of  Greece  (Acts,  xviii.  21),  it  cannot  from 
hence  be  collected  in  which  of  these  visits  the  epistle  was 
written,  or,  with  certainty,  that  it  was  written  in  either. 
The  silence  of  the  historian,  who  professes  to  have  been 
with  St.  Paul  at  the  time,  (xx.  6),  concerning  any  con- 
tribution, might  lead  us  to  look  out  for  some  different  jour- 
ney, or  might  induce  us,  perhaps,  to  question  the  consist- 
ency of  the  two  records,  did  not  a  very  accidental  refer- 
ence, in  another  part  of  the  same  history,  afford  us  suffi- 
cient ground  to  believe  that  this  silence  was  omission. 
When  St.  Paul  made  his  reply  before  Felix,  to  the  accu- 
sation of  Tertullus,  he  alleged,  as  was  natural,  that  neither 
the  errand  which  brought  him  to  Jerusalem,  nor  his  con- 
duct whilst  he  remained  there,  merited  the  calumnies 
with  which  the  Jews  had  aspersed  him.  "Now  after 
many  years  (z.  e.  of  absence),  I  came  to  bring  alms  to  my 
nation,  and  offerings  ;  whereupon  certain  Jews  from  Asia 
found  me  purified  in  the  temple,  neither  with  multitude 
nor  with  tumult,  who  ought  to  have  been  here  before 
thee,  and  object,  if  they  had  aught  against  me."  Acts, 
xxiv.  17 — 19.  This  mention  of  alms  and  offerings  cer- 
tainly brings  the  narrative  in  the  Acts  nearer  to  an  ac- 
cordancy  with  the  epistle  ;  yet  no  one,  lam  persuaded, 


18  THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    ROMANS. 

will  suspect  that  this  clause  was  put  into  St.  Paul's  de- 
fence, either  to  supply  the  omission  in  the  preceding  nar- 
rative, or  with  any  view  to  such  accordancy. 

After  all,  nothing  is  yet  said  or  hinted  concerning  the 
place  of  the  contribution  ;  nothing  concerning  Macedonia 
and  Achaia.  Turn  therefore  to  the  First  Epistle  to  the 
Corinthians,  chap,  xvi.,  ver.  1 — 4,  and  you  have  St.  Paul 
delivering  the  following  directions :  "  Concerning  the  col- 
lection for  the 'saints,  as  I  have  given  orders  to  the 
churches  of  Galatia,  even  so  do  ye ;  upon  the  first  day  ol 
the  week  let  every  one  of  you  lay  by  him  in  store  as  God 
hath  prospered  him,  that  there  be  no  gatherings  when  I 
come.  And,  when  I  come,  whomsoever  you  shall  approve 
by  your  letters,  them  will  I  send  to  bring  your  liberality 
unto  Jerusalem ;  and,  if  it  be  meet  that  I  go  also,  they 
shall  go  with  me."  In  this  passage  we  find  a  contribu- 
tion carrying  on  at  Corinth,  the  capital  of  Achaia,  for  the 
Christians  of  Jerusalem  ;  we  find  also  a  hint  given  of  the 
possibility  of  St.  Paul  going  up  to  Jerusalem  himself,  after 
he  had  paid  his  visit  into  Achaia :  but  this  is  spoken  of 
rather  as  a  possibility  than  as  any  settled  intention ;  for 
his  first  thought  was,  "  Whomsoever  you  shall  approve 
by  your  letters,  them  will  I  send  to  bring  your  liberality 
to  Jerusalem :"  and  in  the  sixth  verse  he  adds,  "  That  ye 
may  bring  me  on  my  journey  whithersoever  I  go."  This 
epistle  purports  to  be  written  after  St.  Paul  had  been  at 
Corinth ;  for  it  refers  throughout  to  what  he  had  done 
and  said  amongst  them  whilst  he  was  there.  The  ex- 
pression, therefore,  "  when  I  come,"  must  relate  to  a  sec- 
ond visit ;  against  which  visit  the  contribution  spoken  of 
was  desired  to  be  in  readiness. 

But,  though  the  contribution  in  Achaia  be  expressly 
mentioned,  nothing  is  here  said  concerning  any  contribu- 
tion in  Macedonia.     Turn,  therefore,  in  the  third  place, 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    ROMANS.  19 

to  the  Second  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  chap,  viii.,  ver. 
I — 4,  and  you  will  discover  the  particular  which  remains 
to  be  sought  for :  "  Moreover,  brethren,  we  do  you  to  wit 
of  the  grace  of  God  bestowed  on  the  churches  of  Macedo- 
nia ;  how  that,  in  a  great  trial  of  affliction,  the  abundance 
of  their  joy  and  their  deep  poverty  abounded  unto  the 
riches  of  their  liberality  ;  for  to  their  power,  I  bear  record, 
yea,  and  beyond  their  power,  they  were  willing  of  them- 
selves ;  praying  us,  with  much  entreaty,  that  we  would 
receive  the  gift,  and  take  upon  us  the  fellowship  of  the 
ministering  to  the  saints."  To  which  add,  chap,  ix.,  ver. 
2 :  "  I  know  the  forwardness  of  your  mind,  for  which  I 
boast  of  you  to  them  of  Macedonia,  that  Achaia  was  ready 
a  year  ago."  In  this  epistle  we  find  St.  Paul  advanced 
as  far  as  Macedonia,  upon  that  second  visit  to  Corinth 
which  he  promised  in  his  former  epistle :  we  find  also,  in 
the  passages  now  quoted  from  it,  that  a  contribution  was 
going  on  in  Macedonia  at  the  same  time  with,  or  soon 
however  following,  the  contribution  which  was  made  in 
Achaia ;  but  for  whom  the  contribution  was  made  does 
not  appear  in  this  epistle  at  all ;  that  information  must  be 
supplied  from  the  first  epistle. 

Here  therefore,  at  length,  but  fetched  from  three  dif- 
ferent writings,  we  have  obtained  the  several  circum- 
stances we  inquired  after,  and  which  the  Epistle  to  the 
Romans  brings  together :  viz.  a  contribution  in  Achaia 
for  the  Christians  of  Jerusalem ;  a  contribution  in  Mace- 
donia for  the  same ;  and  an  approaching  journey  of  St. 
Paul  to  Jerusalem.  We  have  these  circumstances — each 
by  some  hint  in  the  passage  in  which  it  is  mentioned,  or 
by  the  date  of  the  writing  in  which  the  passage  occurs — 
fixed  to  a  particular  time ;  and  we  have  that  time  turning 
out,  upon  examination,  to  be  in  all  the  same ;  namely, 
towards  the  close  of  St.  Paul's  second  visit  to  the  penin- 


20  THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    ROMANi. 

sula  of  Greece.     This  is  an  instance  of  conformity  beyona 
the  possibility,  I  will  venture  to  say,  of  random  writing 
to  produce.     I  also  assert  that  it  is  in  the  highest  degree 
improbable  that  it  should  have  been  the  effect  of  contriv- 
ance and  design.     The  imputation  of  design  amounts  to 
this  :  that  the  forger  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans  inserted 
in  it  the  passage  upon  which  our  observations  are  founded, 
for  the  purpose  of  giving  color  to  his  forgery  by  the  ap- 
pearance of  conformity  with  other  writings  which  were 
then  extant.     I  reply,  in  the  first  place,  that,  if  he  did  this 
to  countenance  his  forgery,  he  did  it  for  the  purpose  of 
an  argument  which  would  not  strike  one   reader  in  ten 
thousand.     Coincidences  so  circuitous  as  this  answer  not 
the  ends  of  forgery;  are  seldom,  I  believe,  attempted  by 
it.     In  the  second  place  I  observe  that  he  must  have  had 
the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  and  the  two  epistles  to  the  Co- 
rinthians before  him   at  the  time.     In  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles  (I  mean  that  part  of  the  Acts  which  relates  to 
this  period),  he  would  have  found  the  journey  to  Jerusa- 
lem ;  but  nothing  about  the  contribution.     In  the  First 
Epistle  to  the  Corinthians  he  would  have  found  a  contri- 
bution going  on  in  Achaia  for  the  Christians  of  Jerusa- 
lem, and  a  distant  hint  of  the  possibility  of  the  journey  ; 
but  nothing  concerning  a  contribution  in  Macedonia.     In 
the  Second  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  he   would   have 
found  a  contribution  in  Macedonia  accompanying  that  in 
Achaia ;  but  no  intimation  for  whom  either  was  intended, 
and  not  a  word  about  the  journey.     It  was  onlv  by  a 
close  and  attentive  collation  of  the  three  writings  that  he 
could  have  picked  out  the  circumstances  which  he  has 
united  in  his  epistle ;  and  by  a  still  more  nice  examination 
that  he  could  have  determined  them  to  belong  to  the  same 
period.     In  the  third  place,  I  remark,  what  diminishes 
very  much  the  suspicion  of  fraud,  how  aptly  and  connect-. 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    ROMANS.  21 

edly  the  mention  of  the  circumstances  in  question,  viz. 
the  journey  to  Jerusalem,  and  of  the  occasion  of  that 
journey,  arises  from  the  context :  "  Whensoever  I  take 
my  journey  into  Spain,  I  will  come  to  you ;  for  I  trust  to 
see  you  in  my  journey,  and  to  be  brought  on  my  way 
thitherward  by  you,  if  first  I  be  somewhat  filled  with  your 
company.  But  now  I  go  unto  Jerusalem,  to  minister  unto 
the  saints ;  for  it  hath  pleased  them  of  Macedonia  and 
Achaia  to  make  a  certain  contribution  for  the  poor  saints 
which  are  at  Jerusalem.  It  hath  pleased  them  verily,  and 
their  debtors  they  are  ;  for,  if  the  Gentiles  have  been  made 
partakers  of  their  spiritual  things,  their  duty  is  also  to 
minister  unto  them  in  carnal  things.  When  therefore  I 
have  performed  this,  and  have  sealed  to  them  this  fruit,  I 
will  come  by  you  into  Spain."  Is  the  passage  in  Italics 
like  a  passage  foisted  in  for  an  extraneous  purpose  ? 
Does  it  not  arise  from  what  goes  before,  by  a  junction  as 
easy  as  any  example  of  writing  upon  real  business  can 
furnish  ?  Could  any  thing  be  more  natural  than  that  St. 
Paul,  in  writing  to  the  Romans,  should  speak  of  the  time 
when  he  hoped  to  visit  them ;  should  mention  the  busi- 
ness which  then  detained  him ;  and  that  he  purposed  to 
set  forwards  upon  his  journey  to  them  when  that  business 
was  completed  ? 


No.   II. 

By  means  of  the  quotation  which  formed  the  subject  of 
the  preceding  number,  we  collect  that  the  Epistle  to  the 
Romans  was  written  at  the  conclusion  of  St.  Paul's  sec- 
ond visit  to  the  peninsula  of  Greece ;  but  this  we  collect, 
not  from  the  epistle  itself,  nor  from  any  thing  declared 
concerning  the  time  and  place  in  any  part  of  the  epistle, 


22  THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    ROMANS. 

but  from  a  comparison  of  circumstances  referred  to  in  the 
epistle  with  the  order  of  events  recorded  in  the  Acts,  and 
with  reference  to  the  same  circumstances,  though  for 
quite  different  purposes,  in  the  two  epistles  to  the  Corin- 
thians. Now  would  the  author  of  a  forgery,  who  sought 
to  gain  credit  to  a  spurious  letter  by  congruities  depend- 
ing upon  the  time  and  place  in  which  the  letter  was  sup- 
posed to  be  written,  have  left  that  time  and  place  to  be 
made  out  in  a  manner  so  obscure  and  indirect  as  this  is  ? 
If  therefore  coincidences  of  circumstance  can  be  pointed 
out  in  this  epistle,  depending  upon  its  date,  or  the  place 
where  it  was  written,  Vv^hilst  that  date  and  place  are  only 
ascertained  by  other  circumstances,  such  coincidences 
may  fairly  be  stated  as  undesigned.  Under  this  head  I 
adduce 

Chap,  xvi.,  21 — 23.  "  Timotheus,  my  work-fellow,  and 
Lucius,  and  Jason,  and  Sosipater,  my  kinsmen,  salute  you. 
I,  Tertius,  who  wrote  this  epistle,  salute  you  in  the  Lord. 
Gaius,  mine  host,  and  of  the  whole  church,  saluteth  you ; 
and  Quartus,  a  brother."  With  this  passage  I  compare 
Acts,  XX.  4:  "And  there  accompanied  him  into  Asia, 
Sopater  of  Berea ;  and,  of  the  Thessalonians,  Aristar- 
chus  and  Secundus  ;  and  Gaius  of  Derbe,  and  Timotheus; 
and  of  Asia,  Tychicus  and  Trophimus."  The  Epistle  to 
the  Romans,  we  have  seen,  was  written  just  before  St. 
Paul's  departure  from  Greece,  after  his  second  visit  to 
that  peninsula :  the  persons  mentioned  in  the  quotation 
from  the  Acts  are  those  who  accompanied  him  in  that 
departure.  Of  seven  whose  names  are  joined  in  the  sal- 
utation of  the  church  of  Rome,  three,  viz.  Sosipater, 
Gaius,  and  Timothy,  are  proved,  by  this  passage  in  the 
Acts,  to  have  been  with  St.  Paul  at  the  time.  And  this 
is  perhaps  as  much  coincidence  as  could  be  expected 
from  reality,  though  less,  I  am  apt  to  think,  than  would 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    ROMANS.  23 

have  been  produced  by  design.  Four  are  mentioned  in 
the  Acts  who  are  not  joined  in  the  salutation  ;  and  it  is 
in  the  nature  of  the  case  probable  that  there  should  be 
many  attending  St.  Paul  in  Greece,  who  knew  nothing 
of  the  converts  at  Rome,  nor  were  known  by  them.  In 
like  manner,  several  are  joined  in  the  salutation  who  are 
not  mentioned  in  the  passage  referred  to  in  the  Acts. 
This  also  was  to  be  expected.  The  occasion  of  mention- 
ing them  in  the  Acts  was  their  proceeding  with  St.  Paul 
upon  his  journey.  But  we  may  be  sure  that  there  were 
many  eminent  Christians  with  St.  Paul  in  Greece,  besides 
those  who  accompamed  him  into  Asia.* 

But,  if  any  one  shall  still  contend  that  a  forger  of  the 
epistle,  with  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  before  him,  and 
having  settled  this  scheme  of  writing  a  letter  as  from  St. 
Paul  upon  his  second  visit  into  Greece,  would  easily  think 
of  the  expedient  of  putting  in  the  names  of  those  persons 
who  appeared  to  be  with  St.  Paul  at  the  time,  as  an  ob- 
vious recommendation  of  the  imposture,  I  then  repeat  my 

*  Of  these  Jason  is  one,  whose  presence  upon  this  occasion  is  very  natu- 
rally accounted  for.  Jason  was  an  inhabitant  of  Thessalonica  in  Mace- 
donia, and  entertained  St.  Paul  in  his  house  upon  his  first  visit  to  that 
country.  Acts,  xvii.  7. — St.  Paul,  upon  this  his  second  visit,  passed  through 
Macedonia  on  his  way  to  Greece,  and,  from  the  situation  of  Thessalonica, 
most  likely  through  that  city.  It  appears,  from  various  instances  in  the 
Acts,  to  have  been  the  practice  of  many  converts  to  attend  St.  Paul  from 
place  to  place.  It  is  therefore  highly  probable,  I  mean  that  it  is  highly  con- 
sistent with  the  account  in  the  history,  that  Jason,  according  to  that  ac- 
count a  zealous  disciple,  the  inhabitant  of  a  city  at  no  great  distance  from 
Greece,  and  through  which,  as  it  should  seem,  St.  Paul  had  lately  passed, 
should  have  accompanied  St.  Paul  into  Greece,  and  have  been  with  him 
there  at  this  time.  Lucius  is  another  name  in  the  epistle.  A  very  slight 
alteration  would  convert  AovKioginto  Aovkus,  Lucius  into  Luke,  which  would 
produce  an  additional  coincidence ;  for  if  Luke  was  the  author  of  the  his- 
tory, he  was  with  St.  Paul  at  the  time ;  inasmuch  as  describing  the  voyage 
which  took  place  soon  after  the  writing  of  this  epistle,  the  historian  uses  the 
%st  person — "  We  sailed  away  from  Philippi."  Acts,  xx.  6. 


24  THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    ROMANS. 

observations :  first,  that  he  would  have  made  the  catalogue 
more  complete  ;  and,  secondly,  that,  with  this  contrivance 
in  his  thoughts,  it  was  certainly  his  business,  in  order  to 
avail  himself  of  the  artifice,  to  have  stated,  in  the  body 
of  the  epistle,  that  Paul  was  in  Greece  when  he  wrote  it, 
and  that  he  was  there  upon  his  second  visit.  Neither  of 
which  he  has  done,  either  directly  or  even  so  as  to  be 
discoverable  by  any  circumstance  found  in  the  narrative 
delivered  in  the  Acts. 

Under  the  same  head,  viz.  of  coincidences  depending 
upon  date,  I  cite  from  the  epistle  the  following  salutation : 
"  Greet  Priscilla  and  Aquila,  my  hewers  in  Christ  Jesus, 
who  have  for  my  life  laid  down  their  own  necks  ;  unto 
w^hom  not  only  I  give  thanks,  but  also  all  the  churches 
of  the  Gentiles."  Chap.  xvi.  3. — It  appears,  from  the 
Acts  of  the  Apostles,  that  Priscilla  and  Aquila  had  orig- 
inally been  inhabitants  of  Rome  ;  for  we  read.  Acts,  xviii. 
2,  that  ''  Paul  found  a  certain  Jew,  named  Aquila,  lately 
come  from  Italy  with  his  wife  Priscilla,  because  that 
Claudius  had  commanded  all  Jews  to  depart  from  RomeJ" 
They  were  connected,  therefore,  with  the  place  to  which 
the  salutations  are  sent.  That  is  one  coincidence  ;  an- 
other is  the  following  :  St.  Paul  became  acquainted  with 
these  persons  at  Corinth  during  his  first  visit  into  Greece. 
They  accompanied  him  upon  his  return  into  Asia  ;  were 
settled  some  time  at  Ephesus,  Acts,  xviii.  19 — 26 ;  and 
appear  to  have  been  with  St.  Paul  when  he  wrote  from 
that  place  his  First  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  1  Cor.  xvi. 
19.  Not  long  after  the  writing  of  which  epistle  St.  Paul 
went  from  Ephesus  into  Macedonia,  and,  "  after  he  had 
gone  over  those  parts,"  proceeded  from  thence  upon  his 
second  visit  into  Greece,  during  which  visit,  or  rather  at 
the  conclusion  of  it,  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  as  hath 
been  shown,  was  written.     We  have  therefore  the  time 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    ROMANS.  25 

of  St.  Paul's  residence  at  Ephesus  after  he  had  written  to 
the  Corinthians,  the  time  taken  up  by  his  progress  through 
Macedonia,  (which  is  indefinite,  and  was  probably  con- 
siderable,) and  his  three  months  abode  in  Greece  ;  we 
have  the  sum  of  those  three  periods  allowed  for  Aquila 
and  Priscilla  going  back  to  Rome,  so  as  to  be  there  when 
the  epistle  before  us  was  written.  Now,  what  this  quo- 
tation leads  us  to  observe  is,  the  danger  of  scattering 
names  and  circumstances  in  writings  like  the  present, 
how  implicated  they  often  are  with  dates  and  places,  and 
that  nothing  but  truth  can  preserve  consistency.  Had 
the  notes  of  time  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans  fixed  the 
writing  of  it  to  any  date  prior  to  St.  Paul's  first  residence 
at  Corinth,  the  salutation  of  Aquila  and  Priscilla  would 
have  contradicted  the  history,  because  it  would  have 
been  prior  to  his  acquaintance  with  these  persons.  If 
the  notes  of  time  had  fixed  it  to  any  period  during  that 
residence  at  Corinth,  during  his  journey  to  Jerusalem 
when  he  first  returned  out  of  Greece,  during  his  stay  at 
Antioch,  whither  he  went  down  to  Jerusalem,  or  durmg 
his  second  progress  through  the  Lesser  Asia,  upon  which 
he  proceeded  from  Antioch,  an  equal  contradiction  would 
have  been  incurred  ;  because,  from  Acts,  xviii.  2 — 18,  19 
— 26,  it  appears  that  during  all  this  time  Aquila  and  Pris- 
cilla were  either  along  with  St.  Paul,  or  were  abiding  at 
Ephesus.  Lastly,  had  the  notes  of  time  in  this  epistle, 
which  we  have  seen  to  be  perfectly  incidental,  compared 
with  the  notes  of  time  in  the  First  Epistle  to  the  Corin- 
thians, which  are  equally  incidental,  fixed  this  epistle  to 
be  either  contemporary  with  that,  or  prior  to  it,  a  similar 
contradiction  would  have  ensued  ;  because,  first,  when 
the  epistle  to  the  Corinthians  was  written,  Aquila  and 
Priscilla  were  along  with  St.  Paul,  as  they  joined  in  the 
salutation  of  that  church,  1  Cor.  xvi.  19  ;  and  because, 
2 


26  THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    ROMANS. 

secondly,  the  history  does  not  allow  us  to  suppose  that 
between  the  time  of  their  becoming  acquainted  witfi  St. 
Paul,  and  the  time  of  St.  Paul's  writing  to  the  Corinthians, 
Aquila  and  Priscilla  could  have  gone  to  Rome,  so  as  to 
have  been  saluted  in  an  epistle  to  that  city  ;  and  then 
come  back  to  St.  Paul  at  Ephesus,  so  as  to  be  joined  w^ith 
him  in  saluting  the  church  of  Corinth.  As  it  is,  all  things 
are  consistent.  The  Epistle  to  the  Romans  is  posterior 
even  to  the  Second  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians  ;  because 
it  speaks  of  a  contribution  in  Achaia  being  completed, 
which  the  Second  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  chap,  viii., 
is  only  soliciting.  It  is  sufficiently,  therefore,  posterior 
to  the  First  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  to  allow  time  in 
the  interval  for  Aquila  and  Priscilla's  return  from  Ephe- 
sus to  Rome. 

Before  we  dismiss  these  two  persons,  we  may  take 
notice  of  the  terms  of  commendation  in  which  St.  Paul 
describes  them,  and  of  the  agreement  of  that  encomium 
with  the  history.  "  My  helpers  in  Christ  Jesus,  who 
have  for  my  life  laid  down  their  necks  ;  unto  whom  not 
only  I  give  thanks,  but  also  all  the  churches  of  the  Gen- 
tiles." In  the  eighteenth  chapter  of  the  Acts  we  are 
informed  that  Aquila  and  Priscilla  were  Jews  ;  that  St. 
Paul  first  met  with  them  at  Corinth  ;  that  for  some  time 
he  abode  in  the  same  house  with  them  ;  that  St.  Paul's 
contention  at  Corinth  was  with  the  unbelieving  Jews, 
who  at  first  "  opposed  and  blasphemed,  and  afterwards, 
with  one  accord  raised  an  insurrection  against  him  ;"  that 
Aquila  and  Priscilla  adhered,  we  may  conclude,  to  St. 
Paul  throughout  this  whole  contest ;  for,  when  he  left 
the  city  they  went  with  him,  Acts,  xviii.  18.  Under 
these  circumstances,  it  is  highly  probable  that  they  should 
be  involved  in  the  dangers  and  persecutions  which  St. 
Paul  underwent  from  the  Jews,  being  themselves  Jews ; 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    ROMANS.  27 

and,  by  adhering  to  St.  Paul  in  this  dispute,  deserters,  as 
they  would  be  accounted,  of  the  Jewish  cause.  Farther, 
as  they,  though  Jews,  were  assisting  to  St.  Paul  in  preach- 
ing to  the  Gentiles  at  Corinth,  they  had  taken  a  decided 
part  in  the  great  controversy  of  that  day,  the  admission 
of  the  Gentiles  to  a  parity  of  religious  situation  with  the 
Jews.  For  this  conduct  alone,  if  there  was  no  other 
reason,  they  may  seem  to  have  been  entitled  to  "  thanks 
from  the  churches  of  the  Gentiles."  They  were  Jews 
taking  part  with  Gentiles.  Yet  is  all  this  so  indirectly 
intimated,  or  rather  so  much  of  it  left  to  inference,  in  the 
account  given  in  the  Acts,  that  I  do  not  think  it  probable 
that  a  forger  either  could  or  would  have  drawn  his  rep- 
resentation from  thence  ;  and  still  less  probable  do  I  think 
it  that,  without  having  seen  the  Acts,  he  could,  by  mere 
accident,  and  without  truth  for  his  guide,  have  delivered 
a  representation  so  conformable  to  the  circumstances 
there  recorded. 

The  two  congruities  last  adduced  depended  upon  the 
time,  the  two  following  regard  the  place,  of  the  epistle. 

1.  Chap.  xvi.  23.  "  Erastus,  the  chamberlain  of  the 
city,  saluteth  you" — of  what  city  ?  We  have  seen,  that 
is,  we  have  inferred,  from  circumstances  found  in  the 
epistle,  compared  with  circumstances  found  in  the  Acts 
of  the  Apostles,  and  in  the  two  epistles  to  the  Corinthians, 
that  our  epistle  was  written  during  St.  Paul's  second  visit 
to  the  peninsula  of  Greece.  Again,  as  St.  Paul,  in  his 
epistle  to  the  church  of  Corinth,  1  Cor.  xvi.  3,  speaks  of 
a  collection  going  on  in  that  city,  and  of  his  desire  that  it 
might  be  ready  against  he  came  thither  ;  and,  as  in  this 
epistle  he  speaks  of  that  collection  being  ready,  it  follows 
that  the  epistle  was  written  either  whilst  he  was  at  Cor- 
inth, or  after  he  had  been  there.  Thirdly,  since  St.  Paul 
speaks  in  this  epistle  of  his  journey  to  Jerusalem,  as  about 


28  THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    ROMANS. 

instantly  to  take  place  ;  and  as  we  learn,  Acts,  xx.  3, 
that  his  design  and  attempt  was  to  sail  upon  that  journey 
immediately  from  Greece,  properly  so  called,  i.  e.  as  dis- 
tinguished from  Macedonia ;  it  is  probable  that  he  was 
in  this  country  when  he  wrote  the  epistle,  in  which  he 
speaks  of  himself  as  upon  the  eve  of  setting  out.  If  in 
Greece,  he  was  most  likely  at  Corinth  ;  for  the  two  epis- 
tles to  the  Corinthians  show  that  the  principal  end  of  his 
coming  into  Greece  was  to  visit  that  city,  where  he 
had  founded  a  church.  Certainly  we  know  no  place  in 
Greece  in  which  his  presence  was  so  probable  :  at  least, 
the  placing  of  him  at  Corinth  satisfies  every  circum- 
stance. Now,  that  Erastus  was  an  inhabitant  of  Corinth, 
or  had  some  connection  with  Corinth,  is  rendered  a  fair 
subject  of  presumption,  by  that  which  is  accidentally  said 
of  him  in  the  Second  Epistle  to  Timothy,  chap.  iii.  20 : 
*'  Erastus  abode  at  Corinth.^'  St.  Paul  complains  of  his 
solitude,  and  is  telling  Timothy  what  was  become  of  his 
companions  :  ''  Erastus  abode  at  Corinth  ;  but  Trophimus 
have  I  left  at  Miletum,  sick."  Erastus  was  one  of  those 
who  had  attended  St.  Paul  in  his  travels,  Acts  xix.  22 ; 
and  when  those  travels  had,  upon  some  occasion,  brought 
our  apostle  and  his  train  to  Corinth,  Erastus  staid  there, 
for  no  reason  so  probable  as  that  it  was  his  home.  I  al- 
low that  this  coincidence  is  not  so  precise  as  some  others, 
yet  I  think  it  too  clear  to  be  produced  by  accident ;  for, 
of  the  many  places  which  this  same  epistle  has  assigned 
to  different  persons,  and  the  innumerable  others  which  it 
might  have  mentioned,  how  came  it  to  fix  upon  Corinth 
for  Erastus  ?  And,  as  far  as  it  is  a  coincidence,  it  is  cer- 
tainly undesigned  on  the  part  of  the  author  of  the  epistle 
to  the  Romans  ;  because  he  has  not  told  us  of  what  city 
Erastus  was  the  chamberlain  ;  or,  which  is  the  same 
thing,  from  what  city  the  epistle  was  written,  the  setting 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    ROMANS.  29 

forth  of  which  was  absolutely  necessary  to  the  display 
of  the  coincidence,  if  any  such  display  had  been  thought 
of:  nor  could  the  author  of  the  Epistle  to  Timothy  leave 
Erastus  at  Corinth,  from  any  thing  he  might  have  read 
in  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  because  Corinth  is  nowhere 
in  that  epistle  mentioned  either  by  name  or  description. 

2.  Chap.  xvi.  1 — 3.  "  I  commend  unto  you  Phcebe, 
our  sister,  which  is  a  servant  of  the  church  which  is  at 
Cenchrea,  that  ye  receive  her  in  the  Lord,  as  becometh 
saints,  and  that  ye  assist  her  in  whatsoever  business  she 
hath  need  of  you  :  for  she  hath  been  a  succorer  of  many, 
and  of  myself  also."  Cenchrea  adjoined  to  Corinth  ;  St. 
Paul  therefore,  at  the  time  of  writing  the  letter,  was  in 
the  neighborhood  of  the  woman  whom  he  thus  recom- 
mends. But,  farther,  that  St.  Paul  had  before  this  been 
at  Cenchrea  itself,  appears  from  the  eighteenth  chapter 
of  the  Acts  ;  and  appears  by  a  circumstance  as  incidental, 
and  as  unlike  design,  as  any  that  can  be  imagined.  "  Paul 
after  this  tarried  there  (viz.  at  Corinth)  yet  a  good  while, 
and  then  took  his  leave  of  his  brethren,  and  sailed  thence 
into  Syria,  and  with  him  Priscilla  and  Aquila,  having 
shorn  his  head  in  Cenchrea^  for  he  had  a  vow  ;"  xviii.  18. 
The  shaving  of  the  head  denoted  the  expiration  of  the 
Nazaritic  vow.  The  historian,  therefore,  by  the  mention 
of  this  circumstance,  virtually  tells  us  that  St.  Paul's  vow 
was  expired  before  he  set  forward  upon  his  voyage,  hav- 
ing deferred  probably  his  departure  until  he  should  be 
released  from  the  restrictions  under  which  his  vow  laid 
him.  Shall  we  say  that  the  author  of  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles  feigned  this  anecdote  of  St.  Paul  at  Cenchrea, 
because  he  had  read  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans  that 
"  Phoebe,  a  servant  of  the  church  of  Cenchrea,  had  been 
a  succorer  of  many  and  of  him  also  ?"  or  shall  we  say 
that  the  author  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  out  of  his 


30  THE    EPIiTLE    TO    THE    ROMANS. 

own  imagination,  created  Phoebe  "«  servant  of  the  church 
at  Cenchrea,"  because  he  read  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles 
that  Paul  had  "  shorn  his  head"  in  that  place  ? 


No.   III. 

Chap.  i.  13.  "Now  I  would  not  have  you  ignorant, 
brethren,  that  oftentimes  I  purposed  to  come  unto  you,  but 
was  let  hitherto,  that  I  might  have  some  fruit  among  you 
also,  even  as  among  other  Gentiles."  Again,  xv.  23,  24. 
"  But  now  having  no  more  place  in  these  parts,  and  hav- 
ing a  great  desire  these  many  years  (noUa,  oftentimes)  to 
come  unto  you,  whensoever  I  take  my  journey  into  Spain 
I  will  come  to  you  ;  for  I  trust  to  see  you  in  my  journey, 
and  to  be  brought  on  my  way  thitherward  by  you ;  but 
now  I  go  up  unto  Jerusalem,  to  minister  to  the  saints. 
When,  therefore,  I  have  performed  this,  and  have  sealed 
to  them  this  fruit,  I  will  come  by  you  into  Spain." 

With  these  passages  compare  Acts,  xix.  21  :  "After 
these  things  were  ended  {viz.  at  Ephesus),  Paul  purposed 
in  the  spirit,  when  he  had  passed  through  Macedonia  and 
Achaia,  to  go  to  Jerusalem ;  saying,  After  I  have  been 
there,  I  must  also  see  Rome." 

Let  it  be  observed  that  our  epistle  purports  to  have 
been  written  at  the  conclusion  of  St.  Paul's  second  jour- 
ney into  Greece ;  that  the  quotation  from  the  Acts  con- 
tains words  said  to  have  been  spoken  by  St.  Paul  at  Eph- 
esus, some  time  before  he  set  forwards  upon  that  journey. 
Now  I  contend  that  it  is  impossible  that  two  independent 
fictions  should  have  attributed  to  St.  Paul  the  same  pur- 
pose, especially  a  purpose  so  specific  and  particular  as 
this,  which  was  not  merely  a  general  design  of  visiting 
Rome  after  he  had  passed  through  Macedonia  and  Achaia, 


THE    EriJiTLE    TU    THE    ROMANS.  31 

and  after  he  had  performed  a  voyage  from  these  countries 
to  Jerusalem.  The  conformity  between  the  history  and 
the  epistle  is  perfect.  In  the  first  quotation  from  the 
epistle  we  find  that  a  design  of  visiting  Rome  had  long 
dwelt  in  the  apostle's  mind :  in  the  quotation  from  the 
Acts,  we  find  that  design  expressed  a  considerable  time 
before  the  epistle  was  written.  In  the  history,  we  find 
that  the  plan  which  St.  Paul  had  formed  wasj  to  pass 
through  Macedonia  and  Achaia ;  after  that  to  go  to  Jeru- 
salem ;  and,  when  he  had  finished  his  visit  there,  to  sail 
for  Rome.  When  the  epistle  was  written,  he  had  ex- 
ecuted so  much  of  his  plan  as  to  have  passed  through 
Macedonia  and  Achaia ;  and  was  preparing  to  pursue 
the  remainder  of  it,  by  speedily  setting  out  towards  Jeru- 
salem :  and  in  this  point  of  his  travels  he  tells  his  friends 
at  Rome  that,  when  he  had  completed  the  business  which 
carried  him  to  Jerusalem,  he  would  come  to  them.  Sec- 
ondly, I  say  that  the  very  inspection  of  the  passages  will 
satisfy  us  that  they  were  not  made  up  from  one  another. 

"Whensoever  I  take  my  journey  into  Spain,  I  will 
come  to  you  ;  for  I  trust  to  see  you  in  my  journey,  and  to 
be  brought  on  my  way  thitherward  by  you ;  but  now  I 
go  up  to  Jerusalem,  to  minister  to  the  saints.  When, 
therefore,  I  have  performed  this,  and  have  sealed  to  them 
this  fruit,  I  will  come  by  you  into  Spain." — This  from  the 
epistle. 

"Paul  purposed  in  the  spirit,  when  he  had  passed 
thrugh  Macedonia  and  Achaia,  to  go  to  Jerusalem ;  say- 
ing, After  I  have  been  there,  I  must  also  see  Rome." — 
This  from  the  Acts. 

If  the  passage  in  the  epistle  was  taken  from  that  in  the 
Acts,  why  was  Spain  put  in  ?  If  the  passage  in  the  Acts 
was  taken  from  that  in  the  epistle,  why  was  Spain  left 
out  ?     If  the  two  passages  were  unknown  to  each  other. 


32  THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    ROMANS. 

nothing  can  account  for  their  conformity  but  truth. 
Whether  we  suppose  the  history  and  the  epistle  to  be 
ahke  fictitious,  or  the  history  to  be  true  but  the  letter  spu- 
rious, or  the  letter  to  be  genuine  but  the  history  a  fable, 
the  meeting  with  this  circumstance  in  both,  if  neither 
borrowed  it  from  the  other,  is,  upon  all  these  suppositions, 
equally  inexplicable. 


No.  IV. 

The  following  quotation  I  offer  for  the  purpose  of 
pointing  out  a  geographical  coincidence,  of  so  much  im- 
portance that  Dr.  Lardner  considered  it  as  a  confirma- 
tion of  the  whole  history  of  St.  Paul's  travels. 

Chap.  XV.,  19.  "  So  that  from  Jerusalem,  and  round 
about  unto  Illyricum,  I  have  fully  preached  the  Gospel  of 
Christ." 

I  do  not  think  that  these  words  necessarily  import  that 
St.  Paul  had  penetrated  into  Illyricum,  or  preached  the 
Gospel  in  that  province  ;  but  rather  that  he  had  come  to 
the  confines  of  Illyricum,  {jisxQf'  ts  IXXvqixs),  and  that  these 
confines  were  the  external  boundary  of  his  travels.  St. 
Paul  considers  Jerusalem  as  the  centre,  and  is  here  view- 
ing the  circumference  to  which  his  travels  extended. 
The  form  of  expression  in  the  original  conveys  this  idea — 

ano  'legeaaXTjjLi    xat   xvxXcp  f^^XQ''  ^^  IXXvqixb.      lUyricum    Was 

the  part  of  this  circle  which  he  mentions  in  an  epistle  to 
the  Romans,  because  it  lay  in  a  direction  from  Jerusalem 
towards  that  city,  and  pointed  out  to  the  Roman  readers 
the  nearest  place  to  them,  to  which  his  travels  from  Jeru- 
lem  had  brought  him.  The  name  of  Illyricum  nowhere 
occurs  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles ;  no  suspicion,  there- 
fore, can  be  received  that  the  mention  of  it  was  borrowed 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    ROMANS.  33 

from  thence.  Yet  I  think  it  appears,  from  these  same 
Acts,  that  St.  Paul,  before  the  time  when  he  wrote  his 
Epistle  to  the  Romans,  had  reached  the  confines  of  Ulyri- 
CLim  ;  or,  however,  that  he  might  have  done  so,  in  perfect 
consistency  with  the  account  there  delivered.  Illyricum 
adjoins  upon  Macedonia ;  measuring  from  Jerusalem  to- 
wards Rome,  it  lies  close  behind  it.  If,  therefore,  St. 
Paul  traversed  the  whole  country  of  Macedonia,  the  route 
would  necessarily  bring  him  to  the  confines  of  Illyricum, 
and  these  confines  would  be  described  as  the  extremity 
of  his  journey.  Now,  the  account  of  St.  Paul's  second 
visit  to  the  peninsula  of  Greece  is  contained  in  these 
words :  '*  He  departed  for  to  go  into  Macedonia ;  and 
when  he  had  gone  over  these  parts,  and  had  given  them 
much  exhortation,  he  came  into  Greece."  Acts,  xx.  2. 
This  account  allows,  or  rather  leads,  us  to  suppose  that 
St.  Paul,  in  going  over  Macedonia  {disWoiv  xa  fiegrj  Bzewa,) 
had  passed  so  far  to  the  west  as  to  come  into  those  parts 
of  the  country  which  were  contiguous  to  Illyricum,  if  he 
did  not  enter  into  Illyricum  itself  The  history,  there- 
fore, and  the  epistle  so  far  agree,  and  the  agreement  is 
much  strengthened  by  a  coincidence  of  time.  At  the 
time  the  epistle  was  written,  St.  Paul  might  say,  in  con- 
formity with  the  history,  that  he  had  "  come  into  Illyri- 
cum ;"  much  before  that  time,  he  could  not  have  said  so ; 
for,  upon  his  former  journey  to  Macedonia,  his  route  is 
laid  down  from  the  time  of  his  landing  at  Philippi  to  his 
sailing  from  Corinth.  We  trace  him  from  Philippi  to 
Amphipolis  and  Apollonia;  from  thence  to  Thessalo- 
nica ;  from  Thessalonica  to  Berea ;  from  Berea  to  Athens  ; 
and  from  Athens  to  Corinth ;  which  tract  confines  him  to 
the  eastern  side  of  the  peninsula,  and  therefore  keeps  him 
all  the  while  at  a  considerable  distance  from  Illyricum. 
Upon  his  second  visit  to  Macedonia,  the  history,  we  have 

2* 


34  THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    ROMANS. 

seen,  leaves  him  at  liberty.  It  must  have  been,  therefore, 
upon  that  second  visit,  if  at  all,  that  he  approached  Illyri- 
cum  ;  and  this  visit,  we  know,  almost  immediately  pre- 
ceded the  writing  of  the  epistle.  It  was  natural  that  the 
apostle  should  refer  to  a  journey  which  was  fresh  in  his 
thoughts. 


No.  V. 

Chap.  XV.  30.  "  Now,  I  beseech  you,  brethren,  for 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ's  sake,  and  for  the  love  of  the 
Spirit,  that  ye  strive  together  with  me  in  your  prayers  to 
God  for  me,  that  I  may  be  delivered  from  them  that  do 
not  believe,  in  Judaea." — With  this  compare  Acts,  xx. 
22,  23 : 

"  And  now,  behold,  I  go  bound  in  the  spirit  unto  Jeru- 
salem, not  knowing  the  things  that  shall  befall  me  there, 
save  that  the  Holy  Ghost  witnesseth  in  every  city,  saying 
that  bonds  and  afflictions  abide  me." 

Let  it  be  remarked  that  it  is  the  same  journey  to  Je- 
rusalem which  is  spoken  of  in  these  two  passages ;  that 
the  epistle  was  written  immediately  before  St.  Paul  set 
forwards  upon  this  journey  from  Achaia ;  that  the  words 
in  the  Acts  were  uttered  by  him  when  he  had  proceeded 
in  that  journey,  as  far  as  Miletus,  in  Lesser  Asia.  This 
being  remembered,  I  observe  that  the  two  passages,  with- 
out any  resemblance  between  them  that  could  induce  us 
to  suspect  that  they  were  borrowed  from  one  another, 
represent  the  state  of  St.  Paul's  mind,  with  respect  to  the 
event  of  the  journey,  in  terms  of  substantial  agreement. 
They  both  express  his  sense  of  danger  in  the  approach- 
ing visit  to  Jerusalem  :  they  both  express  the  doubt  which 
dwelt  upon  his  thoughts  concerning  what  might  there  be- 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    ROMANS.  35 

fall  him.  When,  in  his  epistle,  he  entreats  the  Roman 
Christians,  '*  for  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ's  sake,  and  for  the 
love  of  the  Spirit,  to  strive  together  with  him  in  their 
prayers  to  God  for  him,  that  he  might  be  delivered  from 
them  v^^hich  do  not  believe,  in  Judea,"  he  sufficiently  con- 
fesses his  fears.  In  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  we  see  in 
him  the  same  apprehensions,  and  the  same  uncertainty: 
"  I  go  bound  in  the  spirit  to  Jerusalem,  not  knowing  the 
things  that  shall  befall  me  there."  The  only  difference 
is,  that  in  the  history  his  thoughts  are  more  inclined  to 
despondency  than  in  the  epistle.  In  the  epistle  he  retains 
his  hope  "  that  he  should  come  unto  them  with  joy  by  the 
will  of  God  ;"  in  the  history,  his  mind  yields  to  the  reflec- 
tion, *'  that  the  Holy  Ghost  witnesseth  in  every  city  that 
bonds  and  afflictions  awaited  him."  Now  that  his  fears 
should  be  greater,  and  his  hopes  less,  in  this  stage  of  his 
journey  than  when  he  wrote  his  epistle,  that  is,  when  he 
first  set  out  upon  it,  is  no  other  alteration  than  might  well 
be  expected  ;  since  those  prophetic  intimations  to  which 
he  refers,  when  he  says,  "  the  Holy  Ghost  witnesseth  in 
every  city,"  had  probably  been  received  by  him  in  the 
course  of  his  journey,  and  were  probably  similar  to  what 
we  know  he  received  in  the  remaining  part  of  it  at  Tyre, 
xxi.  4,  and  afterwards  from  Agabus  at  Caesarea,  xxi.  11. 


No.   VI. 

There  is  another  strong  remark  arising  from  the  same 
passage  in  the  epistle ;  to  make  which  understood,  it  will 
be  necessary  to  state  the  passage  over  again,  and  some- 
what more  at  length. 

"  I  beseech  you,  brethren,  for  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ's 
sake,  and  for  the  love  of  the  Spirit,  that  ye  strive  together 


30  THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    ROMANS. 

with  me  in  your  prayers  to  God  for  me,  that  I  may  be 
delivered  from  them  that  do  not  beheve,  in  Judea — that 
I  may  come  unto  you  with  joy  by  the  will  of  God,  and 
may  with  you  be  refreshed." 

I  desire  the  reader  to  call  to  mind  that  part  of  St.  Paul's 
history  which  took  place  after  his  arrival  at  Jerusalem, 
and  which  employs  the  seven  last  chapters  of  the  Acts ; 
and  I  build  upon  it  this  observation — that,  supposing  the 
Epistle  to  the  Romans  to  have  been  a  forgery,  and  the 
author  of  the  forgery  to  have  had  the  Acts  of  the  Apos- 
tles before  him,  and  to  have  there  seen  that  St.  Paul,  in 
fact,  "  was  710^  delivered  from  the  unbelieving  Jews,"  but 
on  the  contrary,  that  he  was  taken  into  custody  at  Jeru- 
salem, and  brought  to  Rome  a  prisoner — it  is  next  to  im- 
possible that  he  should  have  made  St.  Paul  express  ex- 
pectations so  contrary  to  what  he  saw  had  been  the  event; 
and  utter  prayers,  with  apparent  hopes  of  success,  which 
he  must  have  known  were  frustrated  in  the  issue. 

This  single  consideration  convinces  me  that  no  concert 
or  confederacy  whatever  subsisted  between  the  epistle 
and  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles ;  and  that  whatever  coinci- 
dences have  been  or  can  be  pointed  out  between  them 
are  unsophisticated,  and  are  the  result  of  truth  and 
reality. 

It  also  convinces  me  that  the  epistle  was  written  not 
only  in  St.  Paul's  lifetime,  but  before  he  arrived  at  Jeru- 
salem ;  for  the  important  events  relating  to  him  which 
took  place  after  his  arrival  at  that  city  must  have  been 
known  to  the  Christian  community  soon  after  they  hap- 
pened: they  form  the  most  public  part  of  his  history. 
But  had  they  been  known  to  the  author  of  the  epistle — in 
in  other  words  had  they  then  taken  place — the  passage 
which  we  have  quoted  from  the  epistle  would  not  havt 
been  found  there. 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    ROMANS.  37 


No.   VII. 

I  now  proceed  to  state  the  conformity  which  exists  be- 
tween the  argument  of  this  epistle  and  the  history  of  its 
reputed  author.  It  is  enough  for  this  purpose  to  observe 
that  the  object  of  the  epistle,  that  is,  of  the  argumentative 
part  of  it,  was  to  place  the  Gentile  convert  upon  a  parity 
of  situation  with  the  Jewish,  in  respect  of  his  religious 
condition,  and  his  rank  in  the  Divine  favor.  The  epistle 
supports  this  point  by  a  variety  of  arguments  ;  such  as, 
that  no  man  of  either  description  was  justified  by  the 
works  of  the  law — for  this  plain  reason,  that  no  man  had 
performed  them ;  that  it  became  therefore  necessary  to 
appoint  another  medium  or  condition  of  justification,  in 
which  new  medium  the  Jewish  peculiarity  was  merged 
and  lost ;  that  Abraham's  own  justification  was  anterior 
to  the  law,  and  independent  of  it ;  that  the  Jewish  con- 
verts were  to  consider  the  law  as  now  dead,  and  them- 
selves as  married  to  another  ;  that  what  the  law  in  truth 
could  not  do,  in  that  it  was  weak  through  the  flesh,  God 
had  done  by  sending  his  Son  ;  that  God  had  rejected  the 
unbelieving  Jews,  and  had  substituted  in  their  place  a 
society  of  believers  in  Christ,  collected  indiflferently  from 
Jews  and  Gentiles.  Soon  after  the  writing  of  this  epistle, 
St.  Paul,  agreeably  to  the  intention  intimated  in  the  epis- 
tle itself,  took  his  journey  to  Jerusalem.  The  day  after 
he  arrived  there,  he  was  introduced  to  the  church.  What 
passed  at  this  interview  is  thus  related.  Acts,  xxi.  19: 
"  When  he  had  saluted  them,  he  declared  particularly 
what  things  God  had  wrought  among  the  Gentiles  by  his 
ministry ;  and,  when  they  heard  it,  they  glorified  the 
Lord ;  and  said  unto  him,  Thou  seest,  brother,  how  many 
thousands  of  Jews  there  are  which  believe  ;  and  they  are 


38  THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    ROMANS. 

all  zealous  of  the  law  ;  and  they  are  informed  of  thee, 
that  thou  teachest  all  the  Jews  which  are  among  the  Gen- 
tiles to  forsake  Moses,  saying  that  they  ought  not  to  cir- 
cumcise their  children,  neither  to  walk  after  the  customs." 
St.  Paul  disclaimed  the  charge ;  but  there  must  have  been 
something  to  have  led  to  it.  Now,  it  is  only  to  suppose 
that  St.  Paul  openly  professed  the  principles  which  the 
epistle  contains ;  that,  in  the  course  of  his  ministry  he  had 
uttered  the  sentiments  which  he  is  here  made  to  write ; 
and  the  matter  is  accounted  for.  Concerning  the  accu- 
sation which  public  rumor  had  brought  against  him  to 
Jerusalem,  I  will  not  say  that  it  was  just ;  but  I  will  say 
that,  if  he  was  the  author  of  the  epistle  before  us,  and  if 
his  preaching  was  consistent  with  his  writing,  it  was  ex- 
tremely natural :  for  though  it  be  not  a  necessary,  surely 
it  is  an  easy,  inference,  that,  if  the  Gentile  convert,  who 
did  not  observe  the  law  of  Moses,  held  as  advantageous 
a  situation  in  his  religious  interests  as  the  Jewish  convert 
who  did,  there  could  be  no  strong  reason  for  observing 
that  law  at  all.  The  remonstrance,  therefore,  of  the 
church  of  Jerusalem,  and  the  report  which  occasioned  it, 
were  founded  in  no  very  violent  misconstruction  of  the 
apostle's  doctrine.  His  reception  at  Jerusalem  was  ex- 
actly what  I  should  have  expected  the  author  of  this  epis- 
tle to  have  met  with.  I  am  entitled  therefore  to  argue, 
that  a  separate  narrative  of  effects  experienced  by  St. 
Paul,  similar  to  what  a  person  might  be  expected  to  ex- 
perience who  held  the  doctrines  advanced  in  this  epistle, 
forms  a  proof  that  he  did  hold  these  doctrines  ;  and  that 
the  epistle  bearing  his  name,  in  which  such  doctrines  are 
laid  down,  actually  proceeded  from  him. 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    ROMANS. 


No.    VIII. 

This  number  is  supplemental  to  the  former.  I  pi'opose 
to  point  out  in  it  two  particulars  in  the  conduct  of  the 
argument,  perfectly  adapted  to  the  historical  circumstan- 
ces under  which  the  epistle  was  written  ;  which  yet  are 
free  from  all  appearance  of  contrivance,  and  which  it 
would  not,  I  think,  have  entered  into  the  mind  of  a  soph- 
ist to  contrive. 

1.  The  Epistle  to  the  Galatians  relates  to  the  same 
general  question  as  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans.  St.  Paul 
had  founded  the  church  of  Galatia :  at  Rome  he  had 
never  been.  Observe  now  a  difference  in  his  manner  of 
treating  of  the  same  subject,  corresponding  with  this  dif- 
ference in  his  situation.  In  the  Epistle  to  t*he  Galatians 
he  puts  the  point  in  a  great  measure  upon  authority  :  "  I 
marvel  that  ye  are  so  soon  removed  from  him  that  called 
you  into  the  grace  of  Christ,  unto  another  Gospel :" 
Gal.,  i.  6.  "  I  certify  you,  brethren,  that  the  Gospel 
which  was  preached  of  me  is  not  after  man ;  for  I  neither 
received  it  of  man,  neither  was  I  taught  it  but  by  the 
revelation  of  Jesus  Christ:"  chap.  i.  11,  12.  "I  am 
afraid,  lest  I  have  bestowed  upon  you  labor  in  vain :" 
iv.  11,  12.  "  I  desire  to  be  present  with  you  now,  for  I 
stand  in  doubt  of  you ;"  iv.  20.  "  Behold,  I,  Paul,  say 
unto  you,  that,  if  ye  be  circumcised,  Christ  shall  profit 
you  nothing :"  v.  2.  "  This  persuasion  cometh  n^  of 
him  that  called  you :"  v.  8.  This  is  the  style  in  which 
he  accosts  the  Galatians.  In  the  epistle  to  the  converts 
of  Rome,  where  his  authority  was  not  established,  nor 
his  person  known,  he  puts  the  same  points  entirely  upon 
argument.  The  perusal  of  the  epistle  will  prove  this  to 
the  satisfaction  of  every  reader ;  and,  as  the  observation 


40  THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    ROMANS. 

relates  to  the  whole  contents  of  the  epistle,  I  forbear  ad- 
ducing separate  extracts.  I  repeat,  therefore,  that  we 
have  pointed  out  a  distinction  in  the  two  epistles,  suited 
to  the  relation  in  which  the  author  stood  to  his  different 
correspondents. 

Another  adaptation,  and  somewhat  of  the  same  kind, 
is  the  following : 

2.  The  Jews,  we  know,  were  very  numerous  at  Rome, 
and  probably  formed  a  principal  part  amongst  the  new 
converts ;  so  much  so  that  the  Christians  seem  to  have 
been  known  at  Rome  rather  as  a  denomination  of  Jews 
than  as  any  thing  else.  In  an  epistle  consequently  to  the 
Roman  believers,  the  point  to  be  endeavored  after  by  St. 
Paul  was  to  reconcile  the  Jewish  converts  to  the  opinion 
that  the  Gentiles  were  admitted  by  God  to  a  parity  of 
religious  situation  with  themselves,  and  that  without  their 
being  bound  by  the  law  of  Moses.  The  Gentile  con- 
verts would  probably  accede  to  this  opinion  very  readily. 
In  this  epistle,  therefore,  though  directed  to  the  Roman 
Church  in  general,  it  is  in  truth  a  Jew  writing  to  Jews. 
Accordingly  you  will  take  notice  that,  as  often  as  the 
argument  leads  him  to  say  any  thing  derogatory  from 
the  Jewish  institution,  he  constantly  follows  it  by  a  soft- 
ening clause.  Having  (ii.  28,  29,)  pronounced,  not  much 
perhaps  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  native  Jews,  "  that  he 
is  not  a  Jew  which  is  one  outwardly,  neither  that  cir- 
cumcision which  is  outward  in  the  flesh  ;"  he  adds  im- 
mediately, "  What  advantantage  then  hath  the  Jew,  or 
what  profit  is  there  in  circumcision  ?  Much,  every  way'"* 
Having  in  the  third  chapter,  ver.  28,  brought  his  argu- 
ment to  this  formal  conclusion,  "  that  a  man  is  justified 
by  faith  without  the  deeds  of  the  law,"  he  presently  sub- 
joins, ver.  31,  "Do  we  then  make  void  the  law  through 
faith  ?     God  forbid  !     Yea,  we  establish  the  lawP     In  the 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    ROMANS.  41 

seventh  chapter,  when  in  the  sixth  verse  he  had  advanced 
the  bold  assertion  "  that  now  we  are  delivered  from  the 
law,  that  being  dead  wherein  we  were  held  ;"  in  the  very 
next  verse  he  comes  in  with  this  healing  question,  *'  What 
shall  we  say  then  ?  Is  the  law  sin  ?  God  forbid  !  Nay, 
I  had  not  known  sin  but  by  the  law."  Having  in  the 
following  words  insinuated,  or  rather  more  than  insin- 
uated, the  inefficacy  of  the  Jewish  law,  viii.  3,  "  for  what 
the  law  could  not  do,  in  that  it  was  weak  through  the 
flesh,  God  sending  his  own  Son  in  the  likeness  of  sin- 
ful flesh,  and  for  sin,  condemned  sin  in  the  flesh  ;"  after  a 
digression  indeed,  but  that  sort  of  a  digression  which  he 
could  never  resist,  a  rapturous  contemplation  of  his  Chris- 
tian hope,  and  which  occupies  the  latter  part  of  this  chap- 
ter ;  we  find  him  in  the  next,  as  if  sensible  that  he  had 
said  something  which  would  give  offence,  returning  to 
his  Jewish  brethren  in  terms  of  the  warmest  affection 
and  respect.  *'  I  say  the  truth  in  Christ  Jesus  ;  I  lie  not ; 
my  conscience  also  bearing  me  witness  in  the  Holy 
Ghost,  that  I  have  great  heaviness  and  continual  sorrow 
in  my  heart ;  for  I  could  wish  that  myself  were  accursed 
from  Christ,  for  my  brethren,  my  kinsmen  according  to 
the  flesh,  who  are  Israelites,  to  whom  pertaineth  the  adop- 
tion, and  the  glory,  and  the  covenants,  and  the  giving  of 
the  law,  and  the  service  of  God,  and  the  promises  ;  whose 
are  the  fathers ;  and  of  whom,  as  concerning  the  flesh, 
Christ  came."  When,  in  the  thirty-first  and  thirty-second 
verses  of  this  ninth  chapter,  he  represented  to  the  Jews 
the  error  of  even  the  best  of  their  nation,  by  telling  them 
that  *'  Israel,  which  followed  after  the  law  of  righteous- 
ness, had  not  attained  to  the  law  of  righteousness,  be- 
cause they  sought  it  not  by  faith,  but  as  it  were  by  the 
works  of  the  law,  for  they  stumbled  at  that  stumbling- 
stone,"  he  takes  care  to  annex  to  this  declaration  these 


42  THE    EPISTLE    TU    THE    ROMANS. 

conciliating  expressions  :  "  Brethren,  7ny  hearths  desire 
and  prayer  to  God  for  Israel  is,  that  they  might  be  saved  ; 
for  I  bear  them  record  that  they  have  a  z&al  of  God,  but 
not  according  to  knowledge."  Lastly,  having,  chap.  x. 
20,  21,  by  the  application  of  a  passage  in  Isaiah,  insin- 
uated the  most  ungrateful  of  all  propositions  to  a  Jewish 
ear,  the  rejection  of  the  Jewish  nation  as  God's  peculiar 
people  ;  he  hastens,  as  it  were,  to  qualify  the  intelligence 
of  their  fall  by  this  interesting  expostulation :  "  1  say,  then, 
hath  God  cast  away  his  people  {i.  e.  wholly  and  entirel}^)  ? 
God  forbid !  for  I  also  am  an  Israelite,  of  the  seed  of 
Abraham,  of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin.  God  hath  not  cast 
away  his  'people  which  he  foreknew  ;"  and  follows  this 
thought,  throughout  the  whole  of  the  eleventh  chapter, 
in  a  series  of  reflections  calculated  to  soothe  the  Jewish 
converts,  as  well  as  to  procure  from  their  Gentile  breth- 
ren respect  to  the  Jewish  institution.  Now  all  this  is 
perfectly  natural.  In  a  real  St.  Paul  writing  to  real 
converts,  it  is  what  anxiety  to  bring  them  over  to  his 
persuasion  would  naturally  produce  ;  but  there  is  an 
earnestness  and  a  personality,  if  I  may  so  call  it,  in  the 
manner,  which  a  cold  forgery,  I  apprehend,  would  neither 
have  conceived  nor  supported. 


\  L     \H 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  FIRST  EPISTLE  TO  THE  CORINTHIANS. 
No.    I. 

Before  we  proceed  to  compare  this  epistle  with  the 
history,  or  with  any  other  epistle,  we  will  employ  one 
number  in  stating  certain  remarks  applicable  to  our  ar- 
gument, which  arise  from  a  perusal  of  the  epistle  itself. 

By  an  expression  in  the  first  verse  of  the  seventh  chap- 
ter, "  now  concerning  the  things  whereof  ye  wrote  unto 
me,"  it  appears  that  this  letter  to  the  Corinthistns  was 
written  by  St.  Paul  in  answer  to  one  which  he  had  re- 
ceived from  them ;  and  that  the  seventh,  and  some  of 
the  following  chapters,  are  taken  up  in  resolving  certain 
doubts,  and  regulating  certain  points  of  order,  concern- 
ing which  the  Corinthians  had  in  their  letter  consulted 
him.  This  alone  is  a  circumstance  considerably  in  favor 
of  the  authenticity  of  the  epistle :  for  it  must  have  been  a 
far-fetched  contrivance  in  a  forgery,  first  to  have  feigned 
the  receipt  of  a  letter  from  the  church  of  Corinth,  which 
letter  does  not  appear ;  and  then  to  have  drawn  up  a  fic- 
titious answer  to  it,  relative  to  a  great  variety  of  doubts 
and  inquiries,  purely  economical  and  domestic  ;  and  which, 
though  likely  enough  to  have  occurred  to  an  infant  so- 
ciety, in  a  situation  and  under  an  institution  so  novel  as 
that  of  a  Christian  church  then  was,  it  must  have  very 
much  exercised  the  author's  invention,  and  could  have 
answered  no  imaginable  purpose  of  forgery,  to  introduce 


44  THE    FIRST    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS. 

the  mention  of  at  all.  Particulars  of  the  kind  we  refer 
to  are  such  as  the  following:  The  rule  of  duty  and  pru- 
dence relative  to  entering  into  marriage,  as  applicable  to 
virgins,  to  widows ;  the  case  of  husbands  married  to  un- 
converted wives  and  wives  having  unconverted  hus- 
bands ;  that  case  where  the  unconverted  party  chooses  to 
separate,  where  he  chooses  to  continue  the  union ;  the  ef- 
fect which  their  conversion  produced  upon  their  prior 
state,  of  circumcision,  of  slavery  ;  the  eating  of  things  of- 
fered to  idols,  as  it  was  in  itself,  as  others  were  affected 
by  it ;  the  joining  in  idolatrous  sacrifices  ;  the  decorum  to 
be  observed  in  their  religious  assemblies,  the  order  of 
speaking,  the  silence  of  women,  the  covering  or  uncover- 
ing of  the  head,  as  it  became  men,  as  it  became  women. 
These  subjects,  with  their  several  subdivisions,  are  so 
particular,  minute,  and  numerous,  that,  though  they  be 
exactly  agreeable  to  the  circumstances  of  the  persons  to 
whom  the  letter  was  written,  nothing,  I  believe,  but  the 
existence  and  reality  of  those  circumstances  could  have 
suggested  to  the  writer's  thoughts. 

But  this  is  not  the  only  nor  the  principal  observation 
upon  the  correspondence  between  the  church  of  Corinth 
and  their  apostle,  which  I  wish  to  point  out.  It  appears, 
1  think,  in  this  correspondence,  that,  although  the  Co- 
rinthians had  written  to  St.  Paul,  requesting  his  answer 
and  his  directions  in  the  several  points  above  enumer- 
ated, yet  that  they  had  not  said  one  syllable  about  the 
enormities  and  disorders  which  had  crept  in  amongst 
them,  and  in  the  blame  of  which  they  all  shared  ;  but  that 
St.  Paul's  information  concerning  the  irregularities  then 
prevailing  at  Corinth  had  come  round  to  him  from  other 
quarters.  The  quarrels  and  disputes  excited  by  their 
contentious  adherence  to  their  different  teachers,  and  by 
their  placing  of  them  in  competition  with  one  another, 


THE    FIRST    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS.  45 

were  not  mentioned  in  their  letter^  but  communicated  to 
St.  Paul  by  more  private  intelligence :  "  It  hath  been  de- 
clared unto  me,  my  brethren,  hy  them  which  are  of  the 
house  of  Chloe,  that  there  are  contentions  among  you. 
Now  this  I  say,  that  every  one  of  you  saith,  I  am  of  Paul, 
and  I  of  Apollos,  and  I  of  Cephas,  and  I  of  Christ:"  i.  11, 
12.  The  incestuous  marriage  "  of  a  man  with  his  father's 
wife,"  which  St.  Paul  reprehends  with  so  much  severity 
in  the  fifth  chapter  of  our  epistle,  and  which  was  not  the 
crime  of  an  individual  only,  but  a  crime  in  which  the 
whole  church,  by  tolerating  and  conniving  at  it,  had  ren- 
dered themselves  partakers,  did  not  come  to  St.  Paul's 
knowledge  by  the  letter,  but  by  a  rumor  which  had 
reached  his  ears :  "  It  is  reported  commonly  that  there  is 
fornication  among  you,  and  such  fornication  as  is  not  so 
much  as  named  among  the  Gentiles,  that  one  should  have 
his  father's  wife ;  and  ye  are  puffed  up,  and  have  not 
rather  mourned  that  he  that  hath  done  this  deed  might 
be  taken  away  from  among  you:"  v.  1,  2.  Their  going 
to  law  before  the  judicature  of  the  country,  rather  than 
arbitrate  and  adjust  their  disputes  among  themselves, 
which  St.  Paul  animadverts  upon  with  his  usual  plainness, 
was  not  intimated  to  him  in  the  letter,  because  he  tells 
them  his  opinion  of  this  conduct  before  he  comes  to  the 
contents  of  the  letter.  Their  litigiousness  is  censured  by 
St.  Paul  in  the  sixth  chapter  of  his  epistle,  and  it  is  only 
at  the  beginning  of  the  seventh  chapter  that  he  proceeds 
upon  the  articles  which  he  found  in  their  letter ;  and  he 
proceeds  upon  them  with  this  preface :  "  Now  concern- 
ing the  things  whereof  ye  wrote  unto  me,"  vii.  1  ;  which 
introduction  he  would  not  have  used  if  he  had  been  al- 
ready discussing  any  of  the  subjects  concerning  which 
they  had  written.  Their  irregularities  in  celebrating  the 
Lord's  supper,  and  the  utter  perversion  of  the  institution 


46  THE    FIRST    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS. 

which  ensued,  were  not  in  the  letter,  as  is  evident  from 
the  terms  in  which  St.  Paul  mentions  the  notice  he  had 
received  of  it:  "Now  in  this  that  I  declare  unto  you,  I 
praise  you  not,  that  ye  come  together  not  for  the  better, 
but  for  the  worse  ;  for,  first  of  all,  when  ye  come  together 
in  the  church,  /  hear  there  be  dividings  among  you,  and 
I  partly  believe  it^  Now,  that  the  Corinthians  should,  in 
their  own  letter,  exhibit  the  fair  side  of  their  conduct  to 
the  apostle,  and  conceal  from  him  the  faults  of  their  be- 
havior, was  extremely  natural,  and  extremely  probable : 
but  it  was  a  distinction  which  would  not,  I  think,  have 
easily  occurred  to  the  author  of  a  forgery  ;  and  much  less 
likely  is  it  that  it  should  have  entered  into  his  thoughts 
to  make  the  distinction  appear  in  the  way  in  which  it 
does  appear,  viz.  not  by  the  original  letter,  not  by  an 
express  observation  upon  it  in  the  answer,  but  distantly 
by  marks  perceivable  in  the  manner,  or  in  the  order,  in 
which  St.  Paul  takes  notice  of  their  faults. 


No.  II. 

Our  epistle  purports  to  have  been  written  after  St. 
Paul  had  already  been  at  Corinth :  "  I,  brethren,  when  I 
came  unto  you,  came  not  with  excellency  of  speech  or  of 
wisdom,"  ii.  1  ;  and  in  many  other  places  to  the  same  ef- 
fect. It  purports  also  to  have  been  written  upon  the  eve 
of  another  visit  to  that  church :  *'  I  will  come  to  you 
shortly,  if  the  Lord  will,"  iv.  19  ;  and  again,  I  "  will  come 
to  you  when  I  shall  pass  through  Macedonia,"  xvi.  5. 

Now  the  history  relates  that  St.  Paul  did  in  fact  visit 
Corinth  twice:  once  as  recorded  at  length  in  the  eigh- 
teenth, and  a  second  time  as  mentioned  briefly  in  the 
twentieth  chapter  of  the  Acts.     The  same  history  also 


THR    FIRST    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS.  47 

informs  us,  Acts  xx.  1,  that  it  was  from  Ephesus  St.  Paul 
proceeded  upon  his  second  journey  into  Greece.  There- 
fore, as  the  epistle  purports  to  have  been  written  a  short 
time  preceding  that  journey  ;  and  as  St.  Paul,  the  history 
tells  us,  had  resided  more  than  two  years  at  Ephesus, 
before  he  set  out  upon  it,  it  follows  that  it  must  have 
been  from  Ephesus,  to  be  consistent  with  the  history,  that 
the  epistle  was  written  ;  and  every  note  of  place  in  the 
epistle  agrees  with  this  supposition.  "  If,  after  the  man- 
ner of  men,  I  have  fought  with  beasts  at  Ephesus,  what 
advantageth  it  me,  if  the  dead  rise  not  ?"  xv.  32.  I  allow 
that  the  apostle  might  say  this,  wherever  he  was ;  but  it 
was  more  natural  and  more  to  the  purpose  to  say  it,  if  he 
was  at  Ephesus  at  the  time,  and  in  the  midst  of  those 
conflicts  to  which  the  expression  relates.  "The  churches 
of  Asia  salute  you,"  xvi.  10.  Asia,  throughout  the  Acts 
of  the  Apostles  and  the  epistles  of  St.  Paul,  does  not 
mean  the  whole  of  Asia  Minor  or  Antolia,  nor  even  the 
whole  of  the  proconsular  Asia,  but  a  district  in  the  ante- 
rior part  of  that  country,  called  Lydian  Asia,  divided  from 
the  rest,  much  as  Portugal  is  from  Spain,  and  of  which 
district  Ephesus  was  the  capital.  "  Aquila  and  ^friscilla 
salute  you:"  xvi.  19.  Aquila  and  Priscilla  were  at 
Ephesus  during  the  period  within  which  this  epistle  was 
written:  Acts,  xviii.  18,  26.  "I  will  tarry  at  Ephesus 
until  Pentecost :"  xvi.  8.  This,  I  apprehend,  is  in  terms 
almost  asserting  that  he  was  at  Ephesus  at  the  time  of 
writing  the  epistle. — "A  great  and  effectual  door  is 
opened  unto  me:"  xvi.  9.  How  well  this  declaration 
corresponded  with  the  state  of  things  at  Ephesus,  and  the 
progress  of  the  Gospel  in  these  parts,  we  learn  from  the 
reflection  with  which  the  historian  concludes  the  account 
of  certain  transactions  which  passed  there  :  "  So  mightily 
grew  the  word  of  God  and  prevailed,"  Acts,  xix.  20  ;  as 


48  THE    FIRST    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS. 

well  as  from  the  complaint  of  Demetrius,  "that  not  only 
at  Ephesus,  but  also  throughout  all  Asia,  this  Paul  hath 
persuaded  and  turned  away  much  people :"  xix.  26. — 
"  And  there  are  many  adversaries,"  says  the  epistle,  xvi.  9. 
Look  into  the  history  of  this  period  :  "  When  divers  were 
hardened  and  believed  not,  but  spake  evil  of  that  way 
before  the  multitude,  he  departed  from  them,  and  sepa- 
rated the  disciples."  The  conformity  therefore,  upon  this 
head  of  comparison,  is  circumstantial  and  perfect.  If 
any  one  think  that  this  is  a  conformity  so  obvious  that 
any  forger  of  tolerable  caution  and  sagacity  would  have 
taken  care  to  preserve  it,  I  must  desire  such  a  one  to 
read  the  epistle  for  himself;  and,  when  he  has  done  so, 
to  declare  whether  he  has  discovered  one  mark  of  art  or 
design ;  whether  the  notes  of  time  and  place  appear  to 
him  to  be  inserted  with  any  reference  to  each  other,  with 
any  view  of  their  being  compared  with  each  other,  or  for 
the  purpose  of  establishing  a  visible  agreement  with  the 
history,  in  respect  of  them. 


No.   III. 

Chap.  iv.  17 — 19.  *'  For  this  cause  I  have  sent  unto 
you  Timotheus,  who  is  my  beloved  son,  and  faithful  in 
the  Lord,  who  shall  bring  you  into  remembrance  of  my 
ways  which  be  in  Christ,  as  I  teach  everywhere  in  every 
church.  Now  some  are  puffed  up,  as  though  I  would  not 
come  unto  you ;  but  I  will  come  unto  you  shortly,  if  the 
Lord  will." 

With  this  I  compare  Acts,  xix.  21,  22:  "After  these 
things  were  ended,  Paul  purposed  in  the  spirit,  when 
he  had  passed  through  Macedonia  and  Achaia,  to  go  to 
Jerusalem  ;  saving,  After  I  have  been  there,  I  must  also 


THE    FIRST    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS.  49 

see  Rome  ;  so  he  sent  unto  Macedonia  two  of  them  that 
ministered  unto  him,  Timotheus  and  Erastus." 

Though  it  be  not  said,  it  appears,  I  think,  with  suffi- 
cient certainty,  I  mean  from  the  history,  independently  of 
the  epistle,  that  Timothy  was  sent  upon  this  occasion  into 
Achaia,  of  which  Corinth  was  the  capital  city,  as  well  as 
into  Macedonia :  for  the  sending  of  Timothy  and  Erastus 
is,  in  the  passage  where  it  is  mentioned,  plainly  connected 
with  St.  Paul's  own  journey :  he  sent  them  before  him. 
As  he  therefore  purposed  to  go  into  Achaia  himself,  it  is 
highly  probable  that  they  were  to  go  thither  also.  Nev- 
ertheless, they  are  said  only  to  have  been  sent  into  Mace- 
donia, because  Macedonia  was  in  truth  the  country  to 
which  they  went  immediately  from  Ephesus  ;  being 
directed,  as  we  suppose,  to  proceed  afterwards  from 
thence  into  Achaia.  If  this  be  so,  the  narrative  agrees 
with  the  epistle  ;  and  the  agreement  is  attended  with 
very  little  appearance  of  design.  One  thing  at  least  con- 
cerning it  is  certain :  that,  if  this  passage  of  St.  PauFs 
history  had  been  taken  from  his  letter,  it  would  have  ^ent 
Timothy  to  Corinth  by  name,  or  expressly,  however,  into 
Achaia. 

But  there  is  another  circumstance  in  these  two  pas- 
sages much  less  obvious,  in  which  an  agreement  holds 
without  any  room  for  suspicion  that  it  was  produced  by 
design.  We  have  observed  that  the  sending  of  Timothy 
into  the  peninsula  of  Greece  was  connected  in  the  narra- 
tive with  St.  Paul's  own  journey  thither ;  it  is  stated  as 
the  effect  of  the  same  resolution.  Paul  purposed  to  go 
into  Macedonia ;  "  so  he  sent  two  of  them  that  ministered 
unto  him,  Timotheus  and  Erastus."  Now  in  the  epistle 
also  you  remark  that,  when  the  apostle  mentions  his  hav- 
ing sent  Timothy  unto  them,  in  the  very  next  sentence  he 
speaks  of  his  own  visit :  "  for  this  cause  have  I  sent  unto 

3 


50  THE    FIRST    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS. 

you  Timotheus,  who  is  my  beloved  son,"  &c.  ""Now 
some  are  puffed  up,  as  though  I  would  not  come  to  you ; 
but  I  will  come  to  you  shortly,  if  God  will."  Timothy's 
journey,  we  see,  is  mentioned  in  the  history,  and  in  the 
epistle,  in  close  connection  with  St.  Paul's  own.  Here  is 
the  same  order  of  thought  and  intention  ;  yet  conveyed 
under  such  diversity  of  circumstance  and  expression,  and 
the  mention  of  them  in  the  epistle  so  allied  to  the  occa- 
sion which  introduces  it,  viz.  the  insinuation  of  his  adver- 
saries that  he  would  come  to  Corinth  no  more,  that  I  am 
persuaded  no  attentive  reader  will  believe  that  these  pas- 
sages were  written  in  concert  with  one  another,  or  will 
doubt  but  that  the  agreement  is  unsought  and  uncon- 
trived. 

But,  in  the  Acts,  Erastus  accompanied  Timothy  in  this 
journey,  of  whom  no  mention  is  made  in  the  epistle. 
From  what  has  been  said  in  our  observations  upon  the 
Epistle  to  the  Romans,  it  appears  probable  that  Erastus 
was  a  Coririuiian.  If  so,  though  he  accompanied  Timo- 
thy to  Corinth,  he  was  only  returning  home,  and  Timothy 
was  the  messenger  charged  with  St,  Paul's  orders. — At 
any  rate,  this  discrepancy  shows  that  the  passages  were 
not  taken  from  one  another. 


No.  IV, 

Chap.  xvi.  10,  11.  "Now,  if  Timotheus  come,  see  that 
he  may  be  with  you  without  fear ;  for  he  worketh  the 
work  of  the  Lord,  as  also  I  do :  let  no  man  therefore  de- 
spise him,  but  conduct  him  forth  in  peace,  that  he  may 
come  unto  me,  for  I  look  for  him  with  the  brethren." 

From  the  passage  considered  in  the  preceding  number, 
it  appears  that  Timothy  was  sent  to  Corinth,  either  with 


THE    FIRST    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS.  51 

the  epistle,  or  before  it :  "  for  this  cause  have  I  sent  unto 
you  Timotheus."  From  the  passage  now  quoted  we  in- 
fer that  Timothy  was  not  sent  with  the  epistle ;  for  had 
he  been  the  bearer  of  the  letter,  or  accompanied  it,  would 
St.  Paul  in  that  letter  have  said,  "TjT  Timothy  come?" 
Nor  is  the  sequel  consistent  with  the  supposition  of  his 
carrying  the  letter  ;  for,  if  Timothy  was  with  the  apostle 
when  he  wrote  the  letter,  could  he  say,  as  he  does,  "  I 
look  for  him  with  the  brethren?"  I  conclude,  therefore, 
that  Timothy  had  left  St.  Paul  to  proceed  upon  his  journey 
before  the  letter  was  written.  Farther,  the  passage  be- 
fore us  seems  to  imply  that  Timothy  was  not  expected 
by  St.  Paul  to  arrive  at  Corinth  till  after  they  had  re- 
ceived the  letter.  He  gives  them  directions  in  the  letter 
how  to  treat  him  when  he  should  arrive :  ''  If  he  come," 
act  towards  him  so  and  so.  Lastly,  the  whole  form  of 
expression  is  most  naturally  applicable  to  the  supposition 
of  Timothy's  coming  to  Corinth,  not  directly  from  St. 
Paul,  but  from  some  other  quarter;  and  that  his  instruc- 
tions had  been,  when  he  should  reach  Corinth,  to  return. 
Now,  how  stands  this  matter  in  the  history  ?  Turn  to 
the  nineteenth  chapter  and  twenty-first  verse  of  the  Acts, 
and  you  will  find  that  Timothy  did  not,  when  sent  from 
Ephesus,  where  he  left  St.  Paul,  and  where  the  present 
epistle  was  written,  proceed  by  a  straight  course  to  Cor- 
inth, but  that  he  went  round  through  Macedonia.  This 
clears  up  every  thing ;  for,  although  Timothy  was  sent 
forth  upon  his  journey  before  the  letter  was  written,  yet 
he  might  not  reach  Corinth  till  after  the  letter  arrived 
there ;  and  he  would  come  to  Corinth,  when  he  did 
come,  not  directly  from  St.  Paul  at  Ephesus,  but  from 
some  part  of  Macedonia.  Here,  therefore,  is  a  cir- 
cumstantial and  critical  agreement,  and  unquestionably 
without  design ;  for  neither  of  the  two  passages  in  the 


52  THE    FIRST    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS. 

epistle  mentions  Timothy's  journey  into  Macedonia  at  all, 
though  nothing  but  a  circuit  of  that  kind  can  explain  and 
reconcile  the  expressions  which  the  writer  uses. 


No.  V. 

Chap.  i.  12.  "  Now  this  I  say,  that  every  one  of  you 
saith,  I  am  of  Paul,  and  I  of  Apollos,  and  I  of  Cephas, 
and  I  of  Christ." 

Also,  iii.  6.  "  I  have  planted,  Apollos  watered,  but 
God  gave  the  increase." 

This  expression,  "  I  have  planted,  Apollos  watered," 
imports  two  things  ;  first,  that  Paul  had  been  at  Corinth 
before  Apollos  ;  secondly,  that  Apollos  had  been  at  Corinth 
after  Paul,  but  before  the  writing  of  this  epistle.  This 
implied  account  of  the  several  events,  and  of  the  order  in 
which  they  took  place,  corresponds  exactly  with  the  his- 
tory. St.  Paul,  after  his  first  visit  into  Greece,  returned 
from  Corinth  into  Syria  by  the  way  of  Ephesus ;  and, 
dropping  his  companions,  Aquila  and  Priscilla,  at  Ephe- 
sus, he  proceeded  forwards  to  Jerusalem  ;  from  Jerusa- 
lem he  descended  to  Antioch ;  and  from  thence  made  a 
progress  through  some  of  the  upper  or  northern  provinces 
of  the  Lesser  Asia,  Acts,  xviii.  19,  23  :  during  which  prog- 
ress, and  consequently  in  the  interval  between  St.  Paul's 
first  and  second  visit  to  Corinth,  and  consequently  also 
before  the  writing  of  this  epistle,  which  was  at  Ephesus 
two  years  at  least  after  the  apostle's  return  from  his  prog- 
ress, we  hear  of  Apollos,  and  we  hear  of  him  at  Corinth. 
Whilst  St.  Paul  was  engaged,  as  hath  been  said,  in  Phry- 
gia  and  Galatia,  Apollos  came  down  to  Ephesus ;  and  be- 
ing, in  St.  Paul's  absence,  instructed  by  Aquila  and  Pris- 
cilla, and  having  obtained  letters  of  recommendation  from 


THE    FIRST    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS.  53 

the  church  of  Ephesus,  he  passed  over  to  Achaia ;  and, 
when  he  was  there,  we  read  that  he  "helped  them  much 
which  had  beUeved  through  grace,  for  he  mightily  con- 
vinced the  Jews,  and  that  publicly:"  Acts,  xviii.  27,  28. 
To  have  brought  Apollos  into  Achaia,  of  which  Corinth 
was  the  capital  city,  as  well  as  the  principal  Chris- 
tian church;  and  to  have  shown  that  he  preached  the 
Gospel  in  that  country,  would  have  been  sufficient  for 
our  purpose.  But  the  history  happens  also  to  mention 
Corinth  by  name,  as  the  place  in  which  Apollos,  after 
his  arrival  in  Achaia,  fixed  his  residence :  for,  proceeding 
with  the  account  of  St.  Paul's  travels,  it  tells  us  that, 
while  Apollos  was  at  Corinth,  Paul,  having  passed 
through  the  upper  coasts,  came  down  to  Ephesus,  xix.  1. 
What  is  said,  therefore,  of  Apollos  in  the  epistle,  coincides 
exactly,  and  especially  in  the  point  of  chronology,  with 
what  is  delivered  concerning  him  in  the  history.  The 
only  question  now  is,  whether  the  allusions  were  made 
with  a  regard  to  this  coincidence  ?  Now,  the  occasions 
and  purposes  for  which  the  name  of  Apollos  is  introduced 
in  the  Ads  and  in  the  epistles  are  so  independent,  and  so 
remote,  that  it  is  impossible  to  discover  the  smallest  refer- 
ence from  one  to  the  other.  Apollos  is  mentioned  in  the 
Acts,  in  immediate  connection  with  the  history  of  Aquila 
and  Priscilla,  and  for  the  very  singular  circumstance  of 
his  "knowing  only  the  baptism  of  John."  In  the  epistle, 
where  none  of  these  circumstances  are  taken  notice  of, 
his  name  first  occurs,  for  the  purpose  of  reproving  the 
contentious  spirit  of  the  Corinthians ;  and  it  occurs  only 
in  conjunction  with  that  of  some  others :  "  Every  one  of 
you  saith,  I  am  of  Paul,  and  I  of  Apollos,  and  I  of  Cephas, 
and  I  of  Christ."  The  second  passage  in  which  Apollos 
appears,  "  I  have  planted,  Apollos  watered,"  fixes,  as  we 
have  observed,  the  order  of  time  amongst  three  distinct 


54  THE    FIRST    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS. 

events :  but  it  fixes  this,  I  will  venture  to  pronounce,  w^ith- 
out  the  writer  perceiving  that  he  was  doing  any  such 
thing.  The  sentence  fixes  this  order  in  exact  conformity 
with  the  history :  but  it  is  itself  introduced  solely  for  the 
sake  of  the  reflection  which  follows  : — "  Neither  is  he  that 
planteth  any  thing,  neither  he  that  watereth,  but  God, 
that  giveth  the  increase." 


No.  VI. 

Chap.  iv.  11,  12.  "Even  unto  this  present  hour  we 
both  hunger  and  thirst,  and  are  naked,  and  are  buffeted, 
and  have  no  certain  dwelling-place ;  and  labor,  working 
with  our  own  hands." 

We  are  expressly  told,  in  the  history,  that  at  Corinth 
St.  Paul  labored  with  his  own  hands  :  "  He  found  Aquila 
and  Priscilla ;  and,  because  he  was  of  the  same  craft,  he 
abode  with  them,  and  wrought :  for  by  their  occupation 
they  were  tent-makers."  But,  in  the  text  before  us,  he  is 
made  to  say,  that  "  he  labored  even  unto  the  present  liour" 
that  is  to  the  time  of  writing  the  epistle  at  Ephesus. 
Now,  in  the  narration  of  St.  Paul's  transactions  at  Ephe- 
sus, delivered  in  the  nineteenth  chapter  of  the  Acts,  noth- 
ing is  said  of  his  working  with  his  own  hands ;  but  in  the 
twentieth  chapter  we  read  that  upon  his  return  from 
Greece,  he  sent  for  the  elders  of  the  church  of  Ephesus, 
to  meet  him  at  Miletus ;  and  in  the  discourse  which  he 
there  addressed  to  them,  amidst  some  other  reflections 
which  he  calls  to  their  remembrance,  we  find  the  follow- 
ing :  '•  I  have  coveted  no  man's  silver,  or  gold,  or  apparel ; 
yea,  ye  yourselves  also  know  that  these  hands  have  min- 
istered unto  my  necessities,  and  to  them  that  were  with 
me."     The  reader  will  not  forget  to  remark  that,  though 


THE    FIKtJT    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS.  55 

St.  Paul  be  now  at  Miletus,  it  is  to  the  elders  of  the 
church  of  Ephesus  he  his  speaking,  when  he  says,  "  Ye 
yourselves  know  that  these  hands  have  ministered  unto 
my  necessities ;"  and  that  the  whole  discourse  relates  to 
his  conduct  during  his  last  preceding  residence  at  Ephe- 
sus. That  manual  labor,  therefore,  which  he  had  exer- 
cised at  Corinth,  he  continued  at  Ephesus,  and  not  only 
so,  but  continued  it  during  that  particular  residence  at 
Ephesus,  near  the  conclusion  of  which  this  epistle  was 
written ;  so  that  he  might  with  the  strictest  truth  say  at 
the  time  of  writing  the  epistle,  "  Even  unto  this  present 
hour  we  labor,  working  with  our  own  hands."  The  cor- 
respondency is  sufficient,  then,  as  to  the  undesignedness 
of  it.  It  is  manifest,  to  my  judgment,  that,  if  the  history, 
in  this  article,  had  been  taken  from  the  epistle,  this  cir- 
cumstance, if  it  appeared  at  all,  would  have  appeared 
in  its  place,  that  is,  in  the  direct  account  of  St.  Paul's 
transactions  at  Ephesus.  The  correspondency  would  not 
have  been  effected,  as  it  is,  by  a  kind  of  reflected  stroke, 
that  is,  by  a  reference  in  a  subsequent  speech,  to  what  in 
the  narrative  was  omitted.  Nor  is  it  likely,  on  the  other 
hand,  that  a  circumstance  which  is  not  extant  in  the  his- 
tory of  St.  Paul,  at  Ephesus  should  have  been  made  the 
subject  of  a  factitious  allusion,  in  an  epistle  purporting  to 
be  written  by  him  from  that  place ;  not  to  mention  that 
the  allusion  itself,  especially  as  to  time,  is  too  oblique  and 
general  to  answer  any  purpose  of  forgery  whatever. 


No.   VII. 

Chap.  ix.  20.  ""  And  unto  the  Jews  I  became  as  a  Jew, 
that  I  might  gain  the  Jews ;  to  them  that  are  under  the 
law,  as  under  the  law." 


56  THE    FIRST    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS, 

We  have  the  disposition  here  described  exemplified  in 
two  instances  which  the  history  records  ;  one,  Acts,  xvi. 
3:  "Him  (Timothy)  would  Paul  have  to  go  forth  with 
him,  and  took  and  circumcised  him,  because  of  the  Jeios 
in  those  quarters ;  for  they  knew  all  that  his  father  was 
a  Greek."  This  was  before  the  writing  of  the  epistle. 
The  other,  Acts,  xxi.  23,  26,  and  after  the  writing  of  the 
epistle  :  "  Do  this  that  we  say  to  thee  :  we  have  four 
men  which  have  a  vow  on  them  ;  them  take,  and  purify 
thyself  with  them,  that  they  may  shave  their  heads ;  and 
all  may  know  that  those  things,  whereof  they  were  in- 
formed concerning  thee,  are  nothing  ;  but  that  thou  thy- 
self also  walkest  orderly,  and  keepest  the  law. — Then  Paul 
took  the  men,  and  the  next  day,  purifying  himself  with 
them,  entered  into  the  temple.''^  Nor  does  this  concurrence 
between  the  character  and  the  instances  look  like  the  re- 
sult of  contrivance.  St.  Paul,  in  the  epistle,  describes,  or 
is  made  to  describe,  his  own  accommodating  conduct  to- 
wards Jews  and  towards  Gentiles,  towards  the  weak  and 
over-scrupulous,  towards  men  indeed  of  every  variety  of 
character ;  "  to  them  that  are  without  law  as  without 
law,  being  not  without  law  to  God,  but  under  the  law  to 
Christ,  that  I  might  gain  them  that  are  without  law ;  to 
the  weak  became  I  as  weak,  that  I  might  gain  the  weak ; 
I  am  made  all  things  to  all  men,  that  I  might  gain  some." 
This  is  the  sequel  of  the  text  which  stands  at  the  head 
of  the  present  number.  Taking  therefore  the  whole  pas- 
sage together,  the  apostle's  condescension  to  the  Jews  is 
mentioned  only  as  a  part  of  his  general  disposition  to- 
wards all.  It  is  not  probable  that  this  character  should 
have  been  made  up  from  the  instances  in  the  Acts,  which 
relate  solely  to  his  dealings  with  the  Jews.  It  is  not 
probable  that  a  sophist  should  take  his  hint  from  those  in- 
stances, and  then  extend  it  so  much  beyond  them  ;  and  it 


THE    FIRST    El'ISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS.  57 

is  still  more  incredible  that  the  two  instances  in  the  Acts, 
circumstantially  related  and  interwoven  with  the  history, 
should  have  been  fabricated  in  order  to  suit  the  character 
which  St.  Paul  gives  of  himself  in  the  epistle. 


No.   VIII. 

Chap.  i.  14 — 17.  "I  thank  God  that  I  baptized  none 
of  you  but  Crispus  and  Gaius,  lest  any  should  say  that  I 
baptized  in  my  own  name  ;  and  I  baptized  also  the  house- 
hold of  Stephanas  :  besides,  I  know  not  whether  I  bap- 
tized any  other  ;  for  Christ  sent  me  not  to  baptize,  but  to 
preach  the  Gospel." 

It  may  be  expected  that  those  whom  the  apostle  bap- 
tized with  his  own  hands  were  converts  distinguished 
from  the  rest  by  some  circumstance,  either  of  eminence, 
or  of  connection  with  him.  Accordingly,  of  the  three 
names  here  mentioned,  Crispus,  we  find,  from  Acts,  xviii. 
8,  was  a  *'  chief  ruler  of  the  Jewish  synagogue  at  Corinth, 
who  believed  in  the  Lord,  with  all  his  house."  Gaius,  it 
appears  from  Romans,  xvi.  23,  was  St.  Paul's  host  at 
Corinth,  and  the  host,  he  tells  us,  "  of  the  whole  church." 
The  household  of  Stephanas,  we  read  in  the  sixteenth 
chapter  of  this  epistle,  "  were  the  first-fruits  of  Achaia." 
Here,  therefore,  is  the  propriety  we  expected  :  and  it  is  a 
proof  of  reality  not  to  be  contemned  ;  for  their  names 
appearing  in  the  several  places  in  which  they  occur,  with 
a  mark  of  distinction  belonging  to  each,  could  hardly  be 
the  effect  of  chance,  without  any  truth  to  direct  it ;  and, 
on  the  other  hand,  to  suppose  that  they  were  picked  out 
from  these  passages,  and  brought  together  in  the  text  be- 
fore us,  in  order  to  display  a  conformity  of  names,  is  both 
improbable  in  itself,  and  is  rendered  more  so  by  the  pur- 

3* 


58  THE    FIRST    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS. 

pose  for  which  they  are  introduced.  They  come  in  to 
assist  St.  Paul's  exculpation  of  himself,  against  the  possible 
charge  of  having  assumed  the  character  of  the  founder 
of  a  separate  religion,  and  with  no  other  visible,  or,  as  I 
think,  imaginable  design.* 

*  Chap,  i,,  I,  "  Paul  called  to  be  an  apostle  of  Jesus  Christ,  through  the 
will  of  God,  and  Sosthenes,  our  brother,  unto  the  church  of  God  which  is 
at  Corinth."  The  only  account  we  have  of  any  person  who  bore  the  name 
of  Sosthenes  is  found  in  the  eighteenth  chapter  of  the  Acts.  When  the 
Jews  at  Corinth  had  brought  Paul  before  Gallio,  and  Gallio  had  dismissed 
their  complaint  as  unworthy  of  his  interference,  and  had  driven  them  from 
the  judgment-seat;  "then  all  the  Greeks,"  says  the  historian,  "took  Sos- 
thenes, the  chief  ruler  of  the  synagogue,  and  beat  him  before  the  judgment- 
seat."  The  Sosthenes  here  spoken  of  was  a  Corinthian ;  and,  if  he  was  a 
Christian,  and  with  St.  Paul  when  he  wrote  this  epistle,  was  likely  enough 
to  be  joined  with  him  in  the  salutation  of  the  Corinthian  church.  But  here 
occurs  a  difficulty.  If  Sosthenes  was  a  Christian  at  the  time  of  this  uproar, 
why  should  the  Greeks  beat  him  1  The  assault  upon  the  Christians  was 
made  by  the  Jev7S.  It  was  the  Jev)S  who  had  brought  Paul  before  the  mag- 
istrate. If  it  had  been  the  Jews  also  who  had  beaten  Sosthenes  1  should 
not  have  doubted  but  that  he  had  been  a  favorer  of  St.  Paul,  and  the 
same  person  who  is  joined  with  him  in  the  epistle.  Let  us  see,  therefore, 
whether  there  be  not  some  error  in  our  present  text.  The  Alexandrian 
manuscript  gives  iravrti  alone,  without  ol  'EXXfji/cj,  and  is  followed  in  this 
reading  by  the  Coptic  version,  by  the  Arabic  version,  published  by  Epefnius, 
by  the  Vulgate,  and  by  Bede's  Latin  Version.  Three  Greek  manuscripts 
again,  as  well  as  Chrysostom,  give  ol  lovfiaioi,  in  the  place  of  ot,  EAXijycj. 
A  great  plurality  of  manuscripts  authorize  the  reading  which  is  retained  in 
our  copies.  In  this  variety  it  appears  to  me  extremely  probable  that  the 
historian  originally  wrote  iravrti  alone,  and  that  ol  EAX/jf^s,  and  ol  lovSaioi, 
have  been  respectively  added  as  explanatory  of  what  the  word  iravrsf  was 
supposed  to  mean.     The  sentence  without  the  addition  of  either  name, 

would  run  very  perspicuously  thus:  "koi  airriXaaev  avrovs  airo  rov  PrjuaTOS' 
£7Ti\aPoiJL£voi  6e  navrti  ^o}(TQevr]v  rov  ap^iavvayoiYov,  ervirrov  ffiizpoaQev  rov  ffrinaroi. 
and  he  drove  them  away  from  the  judgment-seat  ;  and  they  all,"  viz.,  the 
crowd  of  Jews  whom  the  judge  had  bid  begone,  "  took  Sosthenes,  and  beat 
him  before  the  judgment-seat."  It  is  certain  that,  as  the  whole  body  of  the 
people  were  Greeks,  the  appUcation  of  all  to  them  was  unusual  and  hard. 
If  I  was  describing  an  insurrection  at  Paris,  I  might  say  all  the  Jews,  all 
the  Protestants,  or  all  the  English  acted  so  and  so ;  but  I  should  scarcely 
say  all  the  French,  when  the  whole  mass  of  the  community  were  of  that 


THE    FIRST    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS.  59 


No.  IX. 

Chap.  xvi.  10,  11.  "Now,  if  Timotheus  come,  let  no 
man  despise  him." — Why  despise  him  ?  This  charge  is 
not  given  concerning  any  other  messenger  whom  St.  Paul 
sent ;  and,  in  the  different  epistles,  many  such  messengers 
are  mentioned.  Turn  to  1  Timothy,  chap.  iv.  12,  and  you 
will  find  that  Timothy  was  a  young  man,  younger  proba- 
bly than  those  who  were  usually  employed  in  the  Chris- 
tian mission ;  and  that  St.  Paul,  apprehending  lest  he 
should,  on  that  account,  be  exposed  to  contempt,  urges 
upon  them  the  caution  which  is  there  inserted,  **  Let  no 
man  despise  thy  youth." 


No.  X. 

Chap.  xvi.  1.  "  Now,  concerning  the  collection  for  the 
saints,  as  I  have  given  order  to  the  churches  of  Galatia, 
even  so  do  ye." 

The  churches  of  Galatia  and  Phrygia  were  the  last 
churches  which  St.  Paul  had  visited  before  the  writing 
of  this  epistle.  He  was  now  at  Ephesus,  and  he  came 
thither  immediately  from  visiting  these  churches  :  "  He 
went  over  all  the  country  of  Galatia  and  Phrygia,  in 
order,  strengthening  all  the  disciples.  And  it  came  to 
pass  that  Paul,  having  passed  through  the  upper  coasts/' 
{viz.  the  above-named  countries,  called  the  upper  coasts, 
as  being  the  northern  part  of  Asia  Minor,)  *'came  to 
Ephesus :"  Acts,  xviii.  23  ;    xix.   1.     These,   therefore, 

description.  As  what  is  here  offered  is  founded  upon  a  various  reading, 
and  that  in  opposition  to  the  greater  part  of  the  manuscripts  that  are  extant, 
I  have  not  given  it  a  place  in  the  text. 


60  THE    FIRST    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS. 

probably,  were  the  last  churches  at  which  he  left  direc- 
tions for  their  public  conduct  during  his  absence.  Al- 
though two  years  intervened  between  his  journey  to 
Ephesus  and  his  writing  this  epistle,  yet  it  does  not  ap- 
pear that  during  that  time  he  visited  any  other  church. 
That  he  had  not  been  silent  when  he  was  in  Galatia,  upon 
this  subject  of  contribution  for  the  poor,  is  farther  made 
out  from  a  hint  which  he  lets  fall  in  his  epistle  to  that 
church :  *'  Only  they  (viz.  the  other  apostles)  would  that 
we  should  remember  the  poor,  the  same  also  which  I  was 
forward  to  do." 


No.    XI. 

Chap.  iv.  18.  "Now,  some  are  puffed  up,  as  though  I 
would  not  come  unto  you." 

Why  should  they  suppose  that  he  would  not  come? 
Turn  to  the  first  chapter  of  the  Second  Epistle  to  the 
Corinthians,  and  you  will  find  that  he  had  already  disap- 
pointed them  :  "  I  was  minded  to  come  unto  you  before, 
that  you  might  have  a  second  benefit ;  and  to  pass  by 
you  into  Macedonia,  and  to  come  again  out  of  Macedonia 
unto  you,  and  of  you  to  be  brought  on  my  way  towards 
Judea.  When  I,  therefore,  was  thus  minded,  did  I  use 
lightness  ?  Or  the  things  that  I  purpose  do  I  purpose  ac- 
cording to  the  flesh,  that  with  me  there  should  be  yea, 
yea,  and  nay,  nay  ?  But,  as  God  is  true,  our  w^ord  toward 
you  was  not  yea  and  nay."  It  appears,  from  this  quota- 
tion, that  he  had  not  only  intended,  but  that  he  had  pro- 
mised them  a  visit  before  ;  for,  otherwise,  why  should  he 
apologize  for  the  change  of  his  purpose,  or  express  so 
much  anxiety  lest  this  change  should  be  imputed  to  any 
culpable   fickleness  in  his  temper  ;    and  lest   he  should 


THE    FIRST    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS.  61 

thereby  seem  to  them  as  one  whose  word  was  not,  in  any 
sort,  to  be  depended  upon  ?  Besides  which,  the  terms 
made  use  of  plainly  refer  to  a  promise  :  "  Our  word  to- 
ward you  was  not  yea  and  nay."  St.  Paul  therefore  had 
signified  an  intention  which  he  had  not  been  able  to  exe- 
cute ;  and  this  seeming  breach  of  his  word,  and  the  delay 
of  his  visit,  had,  with  some  who  were  evil  affected  to- 
wards him,  given  birth  to  a  suggestion  that  he  would 
come  no  more  to  Corinth. 


No.   XII. 

Chap.  v.  7,  8.  "  For  even  Christ,  our  passover,  is 
sacrificed  for  us  ;  therefore  let  us  keep  the  feast,  not 
with  old  leaven,  neither  with  the  leaven  of  malice  and 
wickedness,  but  with  the  unleavened  bread  of  sincerity 
and  truth." 

Dr.  Benson  tells  us  that,  from  this  passage,  compared 
with  chapter  xvi.  8,  it  has  been  conjectured  that  this 
epistle  was  written  about  the  time  of  the  Jewish  pass- 
over  ;  and  to  me  the  conjecture  appears  to  be  very  well 
founded.  The  passage  to  which  Dr.  Benson  refers  us  is 
this :  •'  I  will  tarry  at  Ephesus  until  Pentecost."  With 
this  passage  he  ought  to  have  joined  another  in  the  same 
context :  "  And  it  may  be  that  I  will  abide,  yea,  and  win- 
ter with  you ;"  for,  from  the  two  passages  laid  together, 
it  follows  that  the  epistle  was  written  before  Pentecost, 
yet  after  winter  ;  which  necessarily  determines  the  date 
to  the  part  of  the  year  within  which  the  passover  falls. 
It  was  written  before  Pentecost,  because  he  says,  "  I  will 
tarry  at  Ephesus  until  Pentecost."  It  was  written  after 
winter,  because  he  tells  them,  "  It  may  be  that  I  may 
abide,  yea,  and  winter  with  you."    The  winter  which  the 


62  THE    FIRST    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS. 

apostle  purposed  to  pass  at  Corinth  was  undoubtedly  the 
winter  next  ensuing  to  the  date  of  the  epistle ;  yet  it  was 
a  winter  subsequent  to  the  ensuing  Pentecost,  because  he 
did  not  intend  to  set  forward  upon  his  journey  till  after 
that  feast.  The  words,  "  let  us  keep  the  feast,  not  with 
old  leaven,  neither  with  the  leaven  of  malice  and  wick- 
edness, but  with  the  unleavened  bread  of  sincerity  and 
truth,"  look  very  like  words  suggested  by  the  season  ;  at 
least  they  have,  upon  that  supposition,  a  force  and  signifi- 
cancy  which  do  not  belong  to  them  upon  any  other  ;  and 
it  is  not  a  little  remarkable  that  the  hints  casually  drop- 
ped in  the  epistle  concerning  particular  parts  of  the  year 
should  coincide  with  this  supposition. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  SECOND  EPISTLE  TO  THE  CORINTHIANS. 

No.  I. 

I  WILL  not  say  that  it  is  impossible,  having  seen  the 
First  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  to  construct  a  second 
with  ostensible  allusions  to  the  first ;  or  that  it  is  impossi- 
ble that  both  should  be  fabricated  so  as  to  carry  on  an 
order  and  continuation  of  story,  by  successive  references 
to  the  same  events.  But  I  say  that  this,  in  either  case, 
must  be  the  effect  of  craft  and  design.  Whereas,  who- 
ever examines  the  allusions  to  the  former  epistle  which 
he  finds  in  this,  whilst  he  will  acknowledge  them  to  be 
such  as  would  rise  spontaneously  to  the  hand  of  the 
v^^riter,  from  the  very  subject  of  the  correspondence,  and 
the  situation  of  the  corresponding  parties,  supposing  these 
to  be  real,  will  see  no  particle  of  reason  to  suspect,  either 
that  the  clauses  containing  these  allusions  were  insertions 
for  the  purpose,  or  that  the  several  transactions  of  the 
Corinthian  church  were  feigned,  in  order  to  form  a  train 
of  narrative,  or  to  support  the  appearance  of  connection 
between  the  two  epistles. 

1.  In  the  First  Epistle,  St.  Paul  announces  his  inten- 
tion of  passing  through  Macedonia,  in  his  way  to  Corinth : 
*'  I  will  come  to  you  vv^hen  I  shall  pass  through  Macedo- 
nia." In  the  Second  Epistle,  we  find  him  arrived  in 
Macedonia,  and  about  to  pursue  his  journey  to  Corinth. 
But  observe  the  manner  in  which  this  is  made  to  appear : 


64  SECOND    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS. 

"I  know  the  forwardness  of  your  mind,  for  which  I  boast 
of  you  to  them  of  Macedonia,  that  Achaia  was  ready  a 
year  ago,  and  your  zeal  hath  provoked  very  many :  yet 
have  I  sent  the  brethren,  lest  our  boasting  of  you  should 
be  in  vain  in  this  behalf;  that,  as  I  said,  ye  may  be  ready  ; 
lest,  haply,  if  they  of  Macedonia  come  with  me,  and  find 
you  unprepared,  we  (that  we  say  not  you)  be  ashamed  in 
this  same  confident  boasting :"  chap.  ix.  2,  3,  4.  St.  Paul's 
being  in  Macedonia  at  the  time  of  writing  the  epistle,  is, 
in  this  passage,  inferred  only  from  his  saying  that  he  had 
boasted  to  the  Macedonians  of  the  alacrity  of  his  Achaian 
converts ;  and  the  fear  which  he  expresses,  lest,  if  any 
of  the  Macedonia  Christians  should  come  with  him  unto 
Achaia,  they  should  find  his  boasting  unwarranted  by  the 
event.  The  business  of  the  contribution  is  the  sole  cause 
of  mentioning  Macedonia!  at  all.  Will  it  be  insinuated 
that  this  passage  was  framed  merely  to  state  that  St.  Paul 
was  now  in  Macedonia ;  and  by  that  statement,  to  pro- 
duce an  apparent  agreement  with  the  purpose  of  visiting 
Macedonia,  notified  in  the  First  Epistle  ?  Or  will  it  be 
thought  probable  that,  if  a  sophist  had  meant  to  place  St. 
Paul  in  Macedonia,  for  the  sake  of  giving  countenance  to 
his  forgery,  he  would  have  done  it  in  so  oblique  a  manner 
as  through  the  medium  of  a  contribution  ?  The  same 
thing  may  be  observed  of  another  text  in  the  epistle,  in 
which  the  name  of  Macedonia  occurs:  "Furthermore, 
when  I  came  to  Troas  to  preach  the  Gospel,  and  a  door 
was  opened  unto  me  of  the  Lord,  I  had  no  rest  in  my 
spirit,  because  I  found  not  Titus,  my  brother;  but,  taking 
my  leave  of  them,  I  went  from  thence  into  Macedonia." 
I  mean  that  it  may  be  observed  of  this  passage,  also,  that 
there  is  a  reason  for  mentioning  Macedonia,  entirely  dis- 
tinct from  the  purpose  of  showing  St.  Paul  to  be  there. 
Indeed,  if  the  passage  before  us  show  that  point  at  all,  it 


SECOND    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS.  65 

shows  it  SO  obscurely,  that  Grotius,  though  he  did  not 
doubt  that  Paul  was  now  in  Macedonia,  refers  this  text  to 
a  different  journey.  Is  this  the  hand  of  a  forger,  meditat- 
ing to  establish  a  false  conformity  ?  The  text,  however, 
in  which  it  is  most  strongly  implied  that  St.  Paul  wrote 
the  present  epistle  from  Macedonia,  is  found  in  the  fourth, 
fifth,  and  sixth  verses  of  the  seventh  chapter:  "I  am  filled 
with  comfort,  I  am  exceedingly  joyful  in  all  our  tribula- 
tion ;  for,  when  we  were  come  into  Macedonia,  our  flesh 
had  no  rest ;  without  were  fightings,  within  were  fears ; 
nevertheless,  God,  that  comforteth  those  that  are  cast 
down,  comforted  us  by  the  coming  of  Titus."  Yet  even 
here,  I  think,  no  one  will  contend  that  St.  Paul's  coming 
to  Macedonia,  or  being  in  Macedonia,  was  the  principal 
thing  intended  to  be  told  ;  or  that  the  telling  of  it,  indeed, 
was  any  part  of  the  intention  with  which  the  text  was 
written ;  or  that  the  mention  even  of  the  name  of  Mace- 
donia was  not  purely  incidental,  in  the  description  of 
those  tumultuous  sorrows  with  which  the  writer's  mind 
had  been  lately  agitated,  and  from  which  he  was  re- 
lieved by  the  coming  of  Titus.  The  first  five  verses  of 
the  eighth  chapter,  which  commend  the  liberality  of  the 
Macedonian  churches,  do  not,  in  my  opinion,  by  them- 
selves, prove  St.  Paul  to  have  been  at  Macedonia  at  the 
time  of  writing  the  epistle. 

2.  In  the  First  Epistle,  St  Paul  denounces  a  severe 
censure  against  an  incestuous  marriage,  which  had  taken 
place  amongst  the  Corinthian  converts,  with  the  conniv- 
ance, not  to  say  with  the  approbation,  of  the  church  ;  and 
enjoins  the  church  to  purge  itself  of  this  scandal,  by  ex- 
pelling the  ofl^ender  from  its  society  :  '*  It  is  reported  com- 
monly that  there  is  fornication  among  you,  and  such  for- 
nication as  is  not  so  much  as  named  amongst  the  Gentiles, 
that  one  should  have  his  father's  wife  ;  and  ye  are  puflfed 


66  SECOND    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS. 

up,  and  have  not  rather  mourned,  that  he  that  hath  done 
this  deed  might  be  taken  away  from  among  you  ;  for  I  ver- 
ily, as  absent  in  body,  but  present  in  spirit,  have  judged  al- 
ready, as  though  I  were  present,  concerning  him  that  hath 
done  this  deed,  in  the  name  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
when  ye  are  gathered  together,  and  my  spirit,  with  the 
power  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  to  deliver  such  an  one 
unto  Satan  for  the  destruction  of  the  flesh,  that  the  spirit 
may  be  saved  in  the  day  of  the  Lord  :"  chap.  v.  1 — 5. 
In  the  Second  Epistle  we  find  this  sentence  executed,  and 
the  offender  to  be  so  affected  with  the  punishment  that  St. 
Paul  now  intercedes  for  his  restoration:  "Sufficient  to 
such  a  man  is  this  punishment,  which  was  inflicted  of 
many ;  so  that,  contrariwise,  ye  ought  rather  to  forgive 
him  and  comfort  him,  lest  perhaps  such  an  one  should  be 
swallowed  up  with  overmuch  sorrow;  wherefore  I  be- 
seech you  that  ye  would  confirm  your  love  towards  him :" 
2  Cor.  chap.  ii.  7,  8.  Is  this  whole  business  feigned  for 
the  sake  of  carrying  on  a  continuation  of  story  through 
the  two  epistles  ?  The  church  also,  no  less  than  the  of- 
fender, was  brought  by  St.  Paul's  reproof  to  a  deep  sense 
of  the  impropriety  of  their  conduct.  Their  penitence, 
and  their  respect  to  his  authority,  were,  as  might  be  ex- 
pected, exceeding  grateful  to  St.  Paul :  "  We  were  com- 
forted not  by  Titus's  coming  only,  but  by  the  consolation 
wherewith  he  was  comforted  in  you,  when  he  told  us 
your  earnest  desire,  your  mourning,  your  fervent  mind 
towards  me,  so  that  I  rejoiced  the  more ;  for,  though  I 
made  you  sorry  with  a  letter,  I  do  not  repent,  though  I 
did  repent:  for  I  perceive  that  the  same  epistle  made  you 
sorry,  though  it  were  but  for  a  season.  Now  I  rejoice, 
not  that  ye  were  made  sorry,  but  that  ye  sorrowed  to  re- 
pentance :  for  ye  were  made  sorry  after  a  godly  manner, 
that  ye  might  receive  damage  bj^  us  in  nothing :"  chap. 


SECOND    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS.  67 

vii.  7 — 9.  That  this  passage  is  to  be  referred  to  the  in- 
cestuous marriage  is  proved  by  the  twelfth  verse  of  the 
same  chapter :  "  Though  I  wrote  unto  you,  I  did  it  not  for 
his  cause  that  had  done  the  wrong,  nor  for  his  cause 
that  suffered  wrong ;  but  that  our  care  for  you,  in  the 
sight  of  God,  might  appear  unto  you."  There  were,  it 
is  true,  various  topics  of  blame  noticed  in  the  First  Epis- 
tle ;  but  there  was  none,  except  this  of  the  incestuous 
marriage,  which  could  be  called  a  transaction  between 
private  parties,  or  of  which  it  could  be  said  that  one  par- 
ticular person  had  "  done  the  wrong,"  and  another  par- 
ticular person  "  had  suffered  it."  Could  all  this  be  without 
foundation  ?  or  could  it  be  put  into  the  Second  Epistle 
merely  to  furnish  an  obscure  sequel  to  what  had  been  said 
about  an  incestuous  marriage  in  the  First  ? 

3.  In  the  sixteenth  chapter  of  the  First  Epistle,  a  col- 
lection for  the  saints  is  recommended  to  be  set  forwards 
at  Corinth :  "  Now,  concerning  the  collection  for  the 
saints,  as  I  have  given  order  to  the  churches  of  Galatia, 
so  do  ye :"  chap.  xvi.  1.  In  the  ninth  chapter  of  the  Sec- 
ond Epistle,  such  a  collection  is  spoken  of,  as  in  readi- 
ness to  be  received :  "  As  touching  the  ministering  to  the 
saints,  it  is  superfluous  for  me  to  write  to  you,  for  I  know 
the  forwardness  of  your  mind,  for  which  I  boast  of  you  to 
them  of  Macedonia,  that  Achaia  was  ready  a  year  ago, 
and  your  zeal  hath  provoked  very  many :"  chap.  ix.  1,  2. 
This  is  such  a  continuation  of  the  transaction  as  might  be 
expected  ;  or,  possibly  it  will  be  said,  as  might  easily  be 
counterfeited ;  but  there  is  a  circumstance  of  nicety  in  the 
agreement  between  the  two  epistles,  which,  I  am  convin- 
ced, the  author  of  a  forgery  would  not  have  hit  upon,  or 
which,  if  he  had  hit  upon  it,  he  would  have  set  forth  with 
more  clearness.  The  Second  Epistle  speaks  to  the  Corin- 
thians as  having  begun  this  eleemosynary  business  a  year 


68  SECOND    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS. 

before :  "  This  is  expedient  for  you,  who  have  begun  before 
not  only  to  do,  but  also  to  be  forward  a  year  ago :"  chap, 
viii.  10.  "  I  boast  of  you  to  them  of  Macedonia,  that 
Achaia  was  ready  a  year  ago  :"  chap.  ix.  2.  From  these 
texts  it  is  evident  that  something  had  been  done  in  the 
business  a  year  before.  It  appears,  however,  from  other 
texts  in  the  epistle,  that  the  contribution  was  not  yet  col- 
lected or  paid ;  for  brethren  were  sent  from  St.  Paul  to 
Corinth,  "  to  make  up  their  bounty  ;"  chap.  ix.  5.  They 
are  urged  "to  perform  the  doing  of  it:"  chap.  viii.  11. 
"  And  every  man  was  exhorted  to  give  as  he  purposed  in 
his  heart :"  chap.  ix.  7.  The  contribution,  therefore,  as 
represented  in  our  present  epistle,  was  in  readiness,  yet 
not  received  from  the  contributors ;  was  begun,  was  for- 
ward long  before,  yet  not  hitherto  collected.  Now,  this 
representation  agrees  with  one,  and  only  with  one,  sup- 
position, namely,  that  every  man  had  laid  by  in  store,  had 
already  provided,  the  fund  from  which  he  was  afterwards 
to  contribute — the  very  case  which  the  First  Epistle  au- 
thorizes us  to  suppose  to  have  existed  ;  for  in  that  epistle 
St.  Paul  had  charged  the  Corinthians,  "  upon  the  first  day 
of  the  week,  every  one  of  them,  to  lay  by  in  store  as  God 
had  prospered  him  :"*  1  Cor.,  chap.  xvi.  2. 

*  The  following  observations  will  satisfy  us  concerning  the  purity  of  our^ 
apostle's  conduct  in  the  suspicious  business  of  a  pecuniary  contribution. 

1.  He  disclaims  the  having  received  any  inspired  authority  for  the  direc- 
tions which  he  is  giving  :  '•'  I  speak  not  by  commandment,  but  by  occasion 
of  the  forwardness  of  others,  and  to  prove  the  sincerity  of  your  love :"  2  Cor. 
chap.  viii.  8.  Who  that  had  a  sinister  purpose  to  answer  by  the  recom- 
mending of  subscriptions  would  thus  distinguish,  and  thus  lower  the  credit 
of  his  own  recommendation  1 

2.  Although  he  asserts  the  general  right  of  Christian  ministers  to  a  main- 
tenance from  their  ministry,  yet  he  protests  against  the  making  use  of  this 
right  in  his  own  person.  "  Even  so  hath  the  Lord  ordained,  that  they  which 
preach  the  Gospel  should  live  of  the  Gospel ;  but  I  have  used  none  of  these 
things,  neither  have  I  written  these  things  that  it  should  be  so  done  unto 


SECOND    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS.  69 


No.  II. 

In  comparing  the  Second  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians 
with  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  we  are  soon  brought  to  ob- 
serve not  only  that  there  exists  no  vestige  either  of  the 
epistle  having  been  taken  from  the  history,  or  the  history 
from  the  epistle ;  but,  also,  that  there  appears  in  the  con- 
tents of  the  epistle  positive  evidence  that  neither  was  bor- 
rowed from  the  other.  Titus,  who  bears  a  conspicuous 
part  in  the  epistle,  is  not  mentioned  in  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles  at  all.  St.  Paul's  sufferings,  enumerated  chap, 
xi.  24, — "of  the  Jews  five  times  received  I  forty  stripes 
save  one  ;  thrice  was  I  beaten  with  rods ;  once  was  I 
stoned ;  thrice  I  suffered  shipwreck ;  a  night  and  day  I 
have  been  in  the  deep," — cannot  be  made  out  from  his 
history  as  delivered  in  the  Acts  ;  nor  would  this  account 

me  ;  for  it  were  better  for  me  to  die  than  that  any  man  should  make  my 
glorying,  z,  e,  my  professions  of  disinterestedness,  void :"  1  Cor.,  chap.  ix. 
14,  15. 

3.  He  repeatedly  proposes  that  there  should  be  associates  with  himself  in 
the  management  of  the  public  bounty ;  not  colleagues  of  his  own  appoint- 
ment, but  persons  elected  for  that  purpose  by  the  contributors  themselves. 
"  And,  when  I  come,  whomsoever  ye  shall  approve  by  your  letters,  them 
will  I  send  to  bring  your  liberality  unto  Jerusalem;  and,  if  it  be  meet  that  I 
go  also,  they  shall  go  with  me  :"  1  Cor.,  chap.  xvi.  3,  4.  And,  in  the  Sec- 
ond Epistle,  what  is  here  proposed,  we  find  actually  done,  and  done  for  the 
very  purpose  of  guarding  his  character  against  any  imputation  that  might 
be  brought  upon  it,  in  the  discharge  of  a  pecuniary  trust :  "  And  we  have 
sent  with  him  the  brother,  whose  praise  is  in  the  Gospel  throughout  all  the 
churches  ;  and  not  that  only,  but  who  was  also  chosen  of  the  churches  to 
travel  with  us  with  this  grace  (gift)  which  is  administered  by  us  to  the  glory 
of  the  same  Lord,  and  the  declaration  of  your  ready  mind:  avoiding  this, 
that  no  man  should  blame  us  in  this  abundance  which  is  administered  by 
us  ;  providing  for  things  honest,  not  only  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord,  but  also 
in  the  sight  of  men;  "  i.  e.,  not  resting  in  the  consciousness  of  our  own  in- 
tegrity, but,  in  such  a  subject,  careful  also  to  approve  our  integrity  to  the 
public  judgment:  2  Cor.,  chap.  viii.   18 — 21. 


70  SECOND    EFiai'LE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS. 

have  been  given  by  a  writer  who  either  drew  his  knowl- 
edge of  St.  Paul  from  that  history,  or  who  was  careful 
to  preserve  a  conformity  with  it.  The  account,  in  the 
epistle,  of  St.  Paul's  escape  from  Damascus,  though 
agi'eeing  in  the  main  fact  with  the  account  of  the  same 
transaction  in  the  Acts,  is  related  with  such  difference  of 
circumstance  as  renders  it  utterly  improbable  that  one 
should  be  derived  from  the  other.  The  two  accounts, 
placed  by  the  side  of  each  other,  stand  as  follows : — 

2  Cor.,  chap,  xi.,32,  33.  Acts,  chap.  ix.  23—25. 

In  Damascus,  the  governor,  under  And,  after  many  days  were  ful- 
Aretas  the  king,  kept  the  city  of  the  filled,  the  Jews  took  counsel  to  kill 
Damascenes  with  a  garrison,  desi-  him;  but  their  laying  in  wait  was 
rous  to  apprehend  tiie ;  and  through  known  of  Saul.  And  they  watched 
a  window  in  a  basket  was  I  let  down  the  gates  day  and  night  to  kill  him  : 
by  the  wall,  and  escaped  his  hands,      then  the  disciples  took  him  by  night, 

and  let  him  down  by  the  wall  in  a 
basket. 

Now,  if  we  be  satisfied  in  general  concerning  these 
two  ancient  writings,  that  the  one  was  not  known  to  the 
writer  of  the  other,  or  not  consulted  by  him ;  then  the 
accordances  which  may  be  pointed  out  between  them 
will  admit  of  no  solution  so  probable  as  the  attributing 
of  them  to  truth  and  reality,  as  to  their  common  foun- 
dation. 


No.  III. 

The  opening  of  this  epistle  exhibits  a  connection  with 
the  history,  which  alone  would  satisfy  my  mind  that  the 
epistle  was  written  by  St.  Paul,  and  by  St.  Paul  in  the 
situation  in  which  the  history  places  him.  Let  it  be  re- 
membered that,  in  the  nineteenth  chapter  of  the  Acts,  St. 
Paul  is  represented  as  driven  away  from  Ephesus,  or  as 


SECOND    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS.  71 

leaving  however  Ephesus  in  consequence  of  an  uproar 
in  that  city,  excited  by  some  interested  adversaries  of  the 
new  religion.  The  account  of  the  tumult  is  as  follows  : 
"  When  they  heard  these  sayings,"  viz.  Demetrius's  com- 
plaint of  the  danger  to  be  apprehended  from  St.  Paul's 
ministry  to  the  established  worship  of  the  Ephesian  god- 
dess, ''  they  were  full  of  wrath,  and  cried  out,  saying, 
Great  is  Diana  of  the  Ephesians.  And  the  whole  city 
was  filled  with  confusion  ;  and,  having  caught  Gaius  and 
Aristarchus,  Paul's  companions  in  travel,  they  rushed 
with  one  accord  into  the  theatre.  And,  when  Paul  would 
have  entered  in  unto  the  people,  the  disciples  suffered  him 
not ;  and  certain  of  the  chief  of  Asia,  which  were  his 
friends,  sent  unto  him,  desiring  that  he  would  not  adven- 
ture himself  into  the  theatre.  Some,  therefore,  cried  one 
thing,  and  some  another :  for  the  assembly  was  confused, 
and  the  more  part  knew  not  wherefore  they  were  come 
together.  And  they  drew  Alexander  out  of  the  multi- 
tude, the  Jews  putting  him  forward ;  and  Alexander  beck- 
oned with  his  hand,  and  would  have  made  his  defence 
unto  the  people  ;  but,  when  they  knew  that  he  was  a 
Jew,  all  with  one  voice,  about  the  space  of  two  hours, 
cried  out,  Great  is  Diana  of  the  Ephesians. — And,  after 
the  uproar  was  ceased,  Paul  called  unto  him  the  disciples 
and  embraced  them,  and  departed  for  to  go  into  Mace- 
donia." When  he  was  arrived  in  Macedonia,  he  wrote 
the  Second  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians  which  is  now  be- 
fore us ;  and  he  begins  his  epistle  in  this  wise  :  "  Blessed 
be  God,  even  the  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the 
Father  of  mercies,  and  the  God  of  all  comfort,  who  com- 
forteth  us  in  all  our  tribulation,  that  we  may  be  able  to 
comfort  them  which  are  in  any  trouble,  by  the  comfort 
wherewith  we  ourselves  are  comforted  of  God.  For,  as 
the  sufferings  of  Christ  abound  in  us,  so  our  consolation 


72  SECOND    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS. 

also  aboundeth  by  Christ ;  and,  whether  we  be  afflicted, 
it  is  for  your  consolation  and  salvation,  which  is  effectual 
in  the  enduring  of  the  same  sufferings  which  we  also  suf- 
fer ;  or  whether  we  be  comforted,  it  is  for  vour  consola- 
tion  and  salvation  :  and  our  hope  of  you  is  steadfast,  know- 
ing that,  as  ye  are  partakers  of  the  sufferings,  so  shall  ye 
be  also  of  the  consolation.  For  we  would  not,  brethren, 
have  you  ignorant  of  our  trouble  which  came  to  us  in 
Asia,  that  we  were  pressed  out  of  measure,  above 
strength,  insomuch  that  we  despaired  even  of  life :  but 
we  had  the  sentence  of  death  in  ourselves,  that  we  should 
not  trust  in  ourselves,  but  in  God,  which  raiseth  the  dead, 
who  delivered  us  from  so  great  a  death,  and  doth  deliver  ; 
in  whom  we  trust  that  he  will  yet  deliver  us."  Nothing 
could  be  more  expressive  of  the  circumstances  in  which 
the  history  describes  St.  Paul  to  have  been,  at  the  time 
when  the  epistle  purports  to  be  written  ;  or,  rather, 
nothing  could  be  more  expressive  of  the  sensations 
arising  from  these  circumstances,  than  this  passage.  It 
is  the  calm  recollection  of  a  mind  emerged  from  the 
confusion  of  instant  danger.  It  is  that  devotion  and  so- 
lemnity of  thought  wdiich  follows  a  recent  deliverance. 
There  is  just  enough  of  particularity  in  the  passage  to 
show  that  it  is  to  be  referred  to  the  tumult  at  Ephesus  : 
"  We  would  not,  brethren,  have  you  ignorant  of  our  trou- 
ble which  came  to  us  in  Asia."  And  there  is  nothing 
more :  no  mention  of  Demetrius,  of  the  seizure  of  St. 
Paul's  friends,  of  the  interference  of  the  town-clerk,  of 
the  occasion  or  nature  of  the  danger  which  St.  Paul  had 
escaped,  or  even  of  the  city  where  it  happened  ;  in  a 
word,  no  recital  from  which  a  suspicion  could  be  con- 
ceived, either  that  the  author  of  the  epistle  had  made  use 
of  the  narrative  in  the  Acts ;  or,  on  the  other  hand,  that 
he  had  sketched  the  outline,  which  the  narrative  in  the 


SECOND    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS.  73 

Acts  only  filled  up.  That  the  forger  of  an  epistle,  under 
the  name  of  St.  Paul,  should  borrow  circumstances  from 
a  history  of  St.  Paul  then  extant ;  or,  that  the  author  of 
a  history  of  St.  Paul  should  gather  materials  from  letters 
bearing  St.  Paul's  name,  may  be  credited :  but  I  cannot 
believe  that  any  forger  whatever  should  fall  upon  an  ex- 
pedient so  refined  as  to  exhibit  sentiments  adapted  to  a 
situation,  and  to  leave  his  readers  to  seek  out  that  situ- 
ation from  the  history  ;  still  less  that  the  author  of  a  his- 
tory should  go  about  to  frame  facts  and  circumstances, 
fitted  to  supply  the  sentiments  which  he  found  in  the  let- 
ter. It  may  be  said,  perhaps,  that  it  does  not  appear  from 
the  history  that  any  danger  threatened  St.  Paul's  life,  in 
the  uproar  at  Ephesus,  so  imminent  as  that  from  which  in 
the  epistle  he  represents  himself  to  have  been  delivered. 
This  matter,  it  is  true,  is  not  stated  by  the  historian  in 
form  ;  but  the  personal  danger  of  the  apostle,  we  cannot 
doubt,  must  have  been  extreme,  when  the  '*  whole  city 
was  filled  with  confusion ;"  when  the  populace  had 
"  seized  his  companions  ;"  when,  in  the  distraction  of  his 
mind,  he  insisted  upon  "  coming  forth  amongst  them ;" 
when  the  Christians  who  were  about  him  "would  not 
suffer  him  ;"  when  "  his  friends,  certain  of  the  chief  of 
Asia,  sent  to  him,  desiring  that  he  would  not  adventure 
himself  in  the  tumult ;"  when,  lastly,  he  was  obliged  to 
quit  immediately  the  place  and  the  country,  "  and,  when 
the  tumult  was  ceased,  to  depart  into  Macedonia."  All 
which  particulars  are  found  in  the  narration,  and  justify 
St.  Paul's  own  account,  '*  that  he  was  pressed  out  of 
measure,  above  strength,  insomuch  that  he  despaired 
even  of  life  ;  that  he  had  the  sentence  of  death  in  him- 
self;" i.e.,  that  he  looked  upon  himself  as  a  man  con- 
demned to  die. 

4 


74  THE    SECOND    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS. 

No.  IV. 

It  has  already  been  remarked,  that  St.  Paul's  original 
intention  was  to  have  visited  Corinth  in  his  vv^ay  to  Mace- 
donia :  "  I  was  minded  to  come  unto  you  before,  and  to 
pass  by  you  into. Macedonia:"  2  Cor.,  chap.  i.  15,  16.  It 
has  also  been  remarked  that  he  changed  his  intention, 
and  ultimately  resolved  upon  going  through  Macedonia 
first.  Now  upon  this  head  there  exists  a  circumstance 
of  correspondency  between  our  epistle  and  the  history, 
which  is  not  very  obvious  to  the  reader's  observation  ; 
but  which,  when  observed,  will  be  found,  I  think,  close 
and  exact.  Which  circumstance  is  this  :  that,  though  the 
change  of  St.  Paul's  intention  be  expressly  mentioned 
only  in  the  Second  Epistle,  yet  it  appears,  both  from  the 
history  and  from  this  Second  Epistle,  that  the  change  had 
taken  place  before  the  writing  of  the  first  epistle ;  that  it 
appears  however  from  neither,  otherwise  than  by  an  in- 
ference, unnoticed  perhaps  by  almost  every  one  who  does 
not  sit  down  professedly  to  the  examination. 

First,  then,  how  does  this  point  appear  from  the  his- 
tory ?  In  the  nineteenth  chapter  of  the  Acts,  and  the 
twenty-first  verse,  we  are  told  that  "  Paul  purposed  in 
the  spirit,  when  he  had  passed  through  Macedonia  and 
Achaia,  to  go  to  Jerusalem.  So  he  sent  into  Macedonia 
two  of  them  that  ministered  unto  him,  Timotheus  and 
Erastus  ;  but  he  himself  stayed  in  Asia  for  a  season."  A 
short  time  after  this,  and  evidently  in  pursuance  of  the 
same  intention,  we  find  (chap.  xx.  1,  2),  that  "Paul  de- 
parted from  Ephesus  for  to  go  into  Macedonia :  and  that, 
when  he  had  gone  over  those  parts,  he  came  into  Greece." 
The  resolution  therefore  of  passing  first  through  Ma- 
cedonia, and  from  thence  into  Greece,  was  formed  by 


THE    SECOND    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS.  75 

St.  Paul  previously  to  the  sending  away  of  Timothy. 
The  order  in  which  the  two  countries  are  mentioned, 
shows  the  direction  of  his  intended  route ;  "  when  he  had 
passed  through  Macedonia  and  Achaia."  Timothy  and 
Erastus,  who  were  to  precede  him  in  his  progress,  were 
sent  by  him  from  Ephesus  into  Macedonia.  He  himself 
a  short  time  afterwards,  and,  as  hath  been  observed,  ev- 
idently in  continuation  and  pursuance  of  the  same  design, 
"  departed  for  to  go  into  Macedonia."  If  he  had  ever, 
therefore,  entertained  a  different  plan  of  his  journey,  which 
is  not  hinted  in  the  history,  he  must  have  changed  that  plan 
before  this  time.  But,  from  the  seventeenth  verse  of  the 
fourth  chapter  of  the  First  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  we 
discover  that  Timothy  had  been  sent  away  from  Ephesus 
before  that  epistle  was  written :  "  For  this  cause  have  I 
sent  unto  you  Timotheus,  who  is  my  beloved  son."  The 
change,  therefore,  of  St.  Paul's  resolution,  which  was 
prior  to  the  sending  away  of  Timothy,  was  necessarily 
prior  to  the  writing  of  the  First  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians. 
Thus  stands  the  order  of  dates,  as  collected  from  th( 
history,  compared  with  the  First  Epistle.  Now  let  us  in- 
quire, secondly,  how  this  matter  is  represented  in  the 
epistle  before  us.  In  the  sixteenth  verse  of  the  first  chap- 
ter of  this  epistle,  St.  Paul  speaks  of  the  intention  which 
he  had  once  entertained  of  visiting  Achaia,  in  his  way  to 
Macedonia :  "  In  this  confidence  I  was  minded  to  come 
unto  you  before,  that  ye  might  have  a  second  benefit ;  and 
to  pass  by  you  into  Macedonia."  After  protesting,  in  the 
seventeenth  verse,  against  any  evil  construction  that 
might  be  put  upon  his  laying  aside  of  this  intention, 
in  the  twenty-third  verse  he  discloses  the  cause  of  it : 
"Moreover,  I  call  God  for  a  record  upon  my  soul,  that 
to  spare  you,  I  came  not  as  yet  unto  Corinth."  And  then 
he  proceeds  as  follows :  "  But  I  determined  this  with  my- 


76  THE    SECOND    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS. 

self,  that  I  would  not  come  again  to  you  in  heaviness ; 
for,  if  I  make  you  sorry,  who  is  he  then  that  maketh  me 
glad,  but  the  same  which  is  made  sorry  by  me  ?  And  I 
wrote  this  same  unto  you^  lest  when  I  came  I  should  have 
sorrow  from  them  of  whom  I  ought  to  rejoice ;  having 
confidence  in  you  all,  that  my  joy  is  the  joy  of  you  all  ; 
for,  out  of  much  affliction  and  anguish  of  heart,  /  wrote 
unto  you  with  many  tears  ;  not  that  ye  should  be  grieved, 
but  that  ye  might  know  the  love  which  I  have  more  abun- 
dantly unto  you  ;  but,  if  any  have  caused  grief,  he  hath 
not  grieved  me  but  in  part,  that  I  may  not  overcharge 
you  all.  Sufficient  to  such  a  man  is  this  punishment, 
which  was  inflicted  of  many."  In  this  quotation,  let 
the  reader  first  direct  his  attention  to  the  clause  marked 
by  Italics,  "  and  I  wrote  this  same  unto  you,"  and  let  him 
consider,  whether,  from  the  context,  and  from  the  struc- 
ture of  the  whole  passage,  it  be  not  evident  that  this  writ- 
ing was  after  St.  Paul  had  "  determined  with  himself,  that 
he  would  not  come  again  to  them  in  heaviness  ?"  whether, 
indeed,  it  was  not  in  consequence  of  this  determination, 
or  at  least  with  this  determination  upon  his  mind  ?  And, 
in  the  next  place,  let  him  consider  whether  the  sentence, 
"  I  determined  this  with  myself,  that  I  would  not  come 
again  to  you  in  heaviness,"  do  not  plainly  refer  to  that  post- 
poning of  his  visit  to  which  he  had  alluded  in  the  verse 
but  one  before,  when  he  said,  *'  I  call  God  for  a  record 
upon  my  soul,  that,  to  spare  you,  I  came  not  as  yet  unto 
Corinth :"  and  whether  this  be  not  the  visit  of  which  he 
speaks  in  the  sixteenth  verse,  wherein  he  informs  the  Co- 
rinthians "  that  he  had  been  minded  to  pass  by  them  into 
Macedonia :"  but  that,  for  reasons  which  argued  no  levity 
or  fickleness  in  his  disposition,  he  had  been  compelled  to 
change  his  purpose.  If  this  be  so,  then  it  follows  that  the 
writing  here  mentioned  was  posterior  to  the  change  of 


THE    SECOND    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS.  77 

his  intention.  The  only  question,  therefore,  that  remains 
will  be,  whether  this  writing  relate  to  the  letter  which  we 
now  have  under  the  title  of  the  First  Epistle  to  the  Co- 
rinthians, or  to  some  other  letter  not  extant  ?  And  upon 
this  question  I  think  Mr.  Locke's  observation  decisive ; 
namely,  that  the  second  clause  marked  in  the  quotation 
by  Italics,  "  I  wrote  unto  you  with  many  tears,"  and  the 
first  clause  so  marked,  "I  wrote  this  same  unto  you,"  be- 
long to  one  writing,  whatever  that  was ;  and  that  the  sec- 
ond clause  goes  on  to  advert  to  a  circumstance  which 
is  found  in  our  present  First  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians ; 
namely,  the  case  and  punishment  of  the  incestuous  per- 
son. Upon  the  whole,  then,  we  see  that  it  is  capable  of 
being  inferred  from  St.  Paul's  own  words,  in  the  long  ex- 
tract which  we  have  quoted,  that  the  First  Epistle  to  the 
Corinthians  was  written  after  St.  Paul  had  determined  to 
postpone  his  journey  to  Corinth ;  in  other  words,  that  the 
change  of  his  purpose  with  respect  to  the  course  of  his 
journey,  though  expressly  mentioned  only  in  the  Second 
Epistle,  had  taken  place  before  the  writing  of  the  First ; 
the  point  which  we  made  out  to  be  implied  in  the  history, 
by  the  order  of  the  events  there  recorded,  and  the  allu- 
sions to  those  events  in  the  First  Epistle.  Now  this  is  a 
species  of  congruity  of  all  others  the  most  to  be  relied 
upon.  It  is  not  an  agreement  between  two  accounts  of 
the  same  transaction,  or  between  different  statements  of 
the  same  fact,  for  the  fact  is  not  stated ;  nothing  that  can 
be  called  an  account  is  given ;  but  it  is  the  junction  of 
two  conclusions,  deduced  from  independent  sources,  and 
deducible  only  by  investigation  and  comparison. 

This  point,  viz.  the  change  of  the  route,  being  prior  to 
the  writing  of  the  First  Epistle,  also  falls  in  with,  and  ac- 
counts for,  the  manner  in  which  he  speaks  in  that  epistle 
of  his  journey.     His  first  intention  had  been,  as  he  here 


78  THE    SECOND    EPTSTI-E    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS. 

declares,  to  "  pass  by  them  into  Macedonia :"  that  inten- 
tion having  been  previously  given  up,  he  writes,  in  his 
First  Epistle,  *'  that  he  would  not  see  them  now  by  the 
way,"  i.  e.  as  he  must  have  done  upon  his  first  plan  ;  but 
*'  that  he  trusted  to  tarry  a  while  with  them,  and  possibly 
to  abide,  yea,  and  winter  with  them  :"  1  Cor.,  chap.  xvi. 
5,  6.  It  also  accounts  for  a  singularity  in  the  text  re- 
ferred to,  which  must  strike  every  reader ;  ''  I  will  come 
to  you  when  I  pass  through  Macedonia  ;  for  I  do  pass 
through  Macedonia."  The  supplemental  sentence,  "  for 
I  do  pass  through  Macedonia,"  imports  that  there  had 
been  some  previous  communication  upon  the  subject  of 
the  journey  ;  and  also  that  there  had  been  some  vacillation 
and  indecisiveness  in  the  apostle's  plan :  both  which  we 
now  perceive  to  have  been  the  case.  The  sentence  is  as 
much  as  to  say,  "  This  is  what  I  at  last  resolve  upon."  The 
expression,  "6ra>'  Mayedoviuv  disWuj/^  is  ambiguous  ;  it  may 
denote  either  "  when  I  pass,  or  when  I  shall  have  passed, 
through  Macedonia  :"  the  considerations  offered  above 
fix  it  to  the  latter  sense.  Lastly,  the  point  we  have  en- 
deavored to  make  out  confirms,  or  rather,  indeed,  is  nec- 
essary to  the  support  of,  a  conjecture  which  forms  the 
subject  of  a  number  in  our  observations  upon  the  First 
Epistle,  that  the  insinuation  of  certain  of  the  church  of 
Corinth,  that  he  would  come  no  more  amongst  them,  was 
founded  on  some  previous  disappointment  of  their  expec- 
tations. 


No.  V. 

But,  if  St.  Paul  had  changed  his  purpose  before  the 
writing  of  the  First  Epistle,  why  did  he  defer  explaining 
himself  to  the  Corinthians,  concerning  the  reason  of  that 


THE    SECOND    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS.  79 

change,  until  he  wrote  the  Second?  This  is  a  very  fair 
question :  and  we  are  able,  I  think,  to  return  to  it  a  satis- 
factory answer.  The  real  cause,  and  the  cause  at  length 
assigned  by  St.  Paul,  for  postponing  his  visit  to  Corinth, 
and  not  travelling  by  the  route  which  he  had  at  first  de- 
signed, was  the  disorderly  state  of  the  Corinthian  church 
at  the  tinne,  and  the  painful  severities  which  he  should  have 
found  hinaself  obliged  to  exercise,  if  he  had  conae  amongst 
them  during  the  existence  of  these  irregularities.  He  was 
willing  therefore  to  try,  before  he  came  in  person,  what 
a  letter  of  authoritative  objurgation  would  do  amongst 
them,  and  to  leave  time  for  the  operation  of  the  experi- 
ment. That  was  his  scheme  in  writing  the  First  Epistle. 
But  it  was  not  for  him  to  acquaint  them  with  the  scheme. 
After  the  Epistle  had  produced  its  effect  (and  to  the  uU 
most  extent,  as  it  should  seem,  of  the  apostle's  hopes) ; 
when  he  had  wrought  in  them  a  deep  sense  of  their  fault, 
and  an  almost  passionate  solicitude  to  restore  themselves 
to  the  approbation  of  their  teacher ;  when  Titus  (chap, 
vii.  6,  7,  11),  had  brought  him  intelligence  "of  their  ear- 
nest desire,  their  mourning,  their  fervent  mind  towards 
him,  of  their  sorrow  and  their  penitence ;  what  careful- 
ness, what  clearing  of  themselves,  what  indignation,  what 
fear,  what  vehement  desire,  what  zeal,  what  revenge," 
his  letter,  and  the  general  concern  occasioned  by  it,  had 
excited  amongst  them  ;  he  then  opens  himself  fully  upon 
the  subject.  The  affectionate  mind  of  the  apostle  is 
touched  by  this  return  of  zeal  and  duty.  He  tells  them 
that  he  did  not  visit  them  at  the  time  proposed,  lest  their 
meeting  should  have  been  attended  with  mutual  grief; 
and  with  grief,  to  him,  imbittered  by  the  reflection  that 
he  was  giving  pain  to  those  from  whom  alone  he  could 
receive  comfort:  "I  determined  this  with  myself,  that  I 
would  not  come  again  to  you  in  heaviness  ;  for,  if  I  make 


80  SECOND    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS. 

you  sorry,  who  is  he  that  maketh  me  glad,  but  the  same 
which  is  made  sorry  by  me  ?"  chap.  ii.  1,2;  that  he  had 
written  his  former  epistle  to  warn  them  beforehand  of 
their  fault,  '*  lest  when  he  came  he  should  have  sorrow  of 
them  of  whom  he  ought  to  rejoice,"  chap.  ii.  3 ;  that  he 
had  the  farther  view,  though  perhaps  unperceived  by 
them,  of  making  an  experiment  of  their  fidelity,  "  to  know 
the  proof  of  them,  whether  they  are  obedient  in  all 
things,"  chap.  ii.  9.  This  full  discovery  of  his  motive 
came  very  naturally  from  the  apostle,  after  he  had  seen 
the  success  of  his  measures,  but  would  not  have  been  a 
seasonable  communication  before.  The  whole  composes 
a  train  of  sentiment  and  of  conduct  resulting  from  real 
situation,  and  from  real  circumstances,  and  as  remote  as 
possible  from  fiction  or  imposture. 

No.  VI. 

Chap.  xi.  9.  "When  I  was  present  with  you,  and 
wanted,  I  was  chargeable  to  no  man :  for  that  which  was 
lacking  to  me,  the  brethren  which  came  from  Macedonia 
supplied."  The  principal  fact  set  forth  in  this  passage, 
the  arrival  at  Corinth  of  brethren  from  Macedonia  during 
St.  Paul's  first  residence  in  that  city,  is  explicitly  re- 
corded. Acts,  chap,  xviii.  1,5;  ''  After  these  things,  Paul 
departed  from  Athens  and  came  to  Corinth.  And  when 
Silas  and  Timotheus  were  come  from  Macedonia,  Paul 
was  pressed  in  spirit,  and  testified  to  the  Jews  that  Jesus 
was  Christ." 

No.   VII. 

The  above  quotation  from  the  Acts  proves  that  Silas 
and  Timotheus  were  assisting  to  St.  Paul  in  preaching 


SECOND    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS.  81 

the  Gospel  at  Corinth.  With  which  correspond  the 
words  of  the  epistle,  chap.  i.  19:  *'  For  the  Son  of  God, 
Jesus  Christ,  who  was  preached  among  you  by  us,  even 
by  me,  and  Silvanus,  and  Timotheus,  was  not  yea  and 
nay,  but  in  him  was  yea."  I  do  admit  that  the  corres- 
pondency, considered  by  itself,  is  too  direct  and  obvious ; 
and  that  an  impostor  with  the  history  before  him  might, 
and  probably  would,  produce  agreements  of  the  same 
kind.  But  let  it  be  remembered,  that  this  reference  is 
found  in  a  writing  which,  from  many  discrepancies,  and 
especially  from  those  noted  No.  II.,  we  may  conclude, 
was  not  composed  by  any  one  who  had  consulted,  and 
who  pursued,  the  history.  Some  observation  also  arises 
upon  the  variation  of  the  name.  We  read  Silas  in  the 
Acts,  Silvanus  in  the  epistle.  The  similitude  of  these 
two  names,  if  they  were  the  names  of  different  persons, 
is  greater  than  could  easily  have  proceeded  from  acci- 
dent ;  I  mean,  that  it  is  not  probable  that  two  persons 
placed  in  situations  so  much  alike  should  bear  names  so 
nearly  resembling  each  other.*  On  the  other  hand,  the 
difference  of  the  name  in  the  two  passages  negatives  the 
supposition  of  the  passages,  or  the  account  contained  in 
them,  being  transcribed  either  from  the  other. 


No.    VIII. 

Chap.  ii.  12,  13.  "  When  I  came  to  Troas  to  preach 
Christ's  Gospel,  and  a  door  was  opened  unto  me  of  the 
Lord,  I  had  no  rest  in  my  spirit,  because  I  found  not 
Titus  my  brother ;  but,  taking  my  leave  of  them,  I  went 
from  thence  into  Macedonia." 

*  That  they  were  the  same  person  is  farther  comfirmed  by  1  Thess.  chap, 
i.  1,  compared  with  Acts,  chap.  xvii.   10. 

4* 


82  SECON^D    EriSTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS. 

To  establish  a  conformity  between  this  passage  and  the 
history,  nothing  more  is  necessary  to  be  presumed  than 
that  St.  Paul  proceeded  from  Ephesus  to  Macedonia, 
upon  the  same  course  by  which  he  came  back  from  Ma- 
cedonia to  Ephesus,  or  rather  to  Miletus,  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  Ephesus  ;  in  other  words,  that,  in  his  journey  to 
the  peninsula  of  Greece,  he  went  and  returned  the  same 
way.  St.  Paul  is  now  in  Macedonia,  where  he  had 
lately  arrived  from  Ephesus.  Our  quotation  imports  that 
in  his  journey  he  had  stopped  at  Troas.  Of  this  the  his- 
tory says  nothing,  leaving  us  only  the  short  account,  that 
"  Paul  departed  from  Ephesus  for  to  go  into  Macedonia." 
But  the  history  says  that,  in  his  return  from  Macedonia 
to  Ephesus,  "Paul  sailed  from  Philippi  to  Troas;  and  that, 
v*^hen  the  disciples  came  together  on  the  first  day  of  the 
week  to  break  bread,  Paul  preo.ched  unto  them  all  night ; 
that  from  Troas  he  went  by  land  to  Assos ;  from  Assos, 
taking  ship  and  coasting  along  the  front  of  Asia  Minor, 
he  came  by  Mitylene  to  Miletus."  Which  account  proves, 
first,  that  Troas  lay  in  the  way  by  which  St.  Paul  passed 
between  Ephesus  and  Macedonia ;  secondly,  that  he  had 
disciples  there.  In  one  journey  between  these  two 
places,  the  epistle,  and,  in  another  journey  between  the 
same  places,  the  history,  makes  him  stop  at  this  city.  Of 
the  first  journey  he  is  made  to  say  "  that  a  door  was  in 
that  city  opened  unto  me  of  the  Lord  ;"  in  the  second, 
we  find  disciples  there  collected  around  him,  and  the 
apostle  exercising  his  ministry  wdth  what  was  even  in 
him  more  than  ordinary  zeal  and  labor.  The  epistle, 
therefore,  is  in  this  instance  confirmed,  if  not  by  the 
terms,  at  least  by  the  probability  of  the  history  ;  a 
species  of  confirmation  by  no  means  to  be  despised,  be- 
cause, as  far  as  it  reaches,  it  is  evidently  uncontrived. 

Grotius,  I  know,  refers  the  arrival   at  Troas,  to  which 


SECOND    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS.  83 

the  epistle  alludes,  to  a  different  period,  but  I  think  very 
improbably ;  for  nothing  appears  to  me  more  certain  than 
that  the  meeting  with  Titus,  which  St.  Paul  expected  at 
Troas,  was  the  same  meeting  which  took  place  in  Mace- 
donia, viz.  upon  Titus's  coming  out  of  Greece.  In  the 
quotation  before  us  he  tells  the  Corinthians,  "When  I 
came  to  Troas,  I  had  no  rest  in  my  spirit,  because  I  found 
not  Titus  my  brother ;  but,  taking  my  leave  of  them,  I 
went  from  thence  into  Macedonia."  Then  in  the  seventh 
chapter  he  writes,  "  When  we  were  come  into  Mace- 
donia, our  flesh  had  no  rest,  but  we  were  troubled  on 
every  side ;  without  were  fightings,  within  were  fears  ; 
nevertheless  God,  that  comforteth  them  that  are  cast 
down,  comforted  us  by  the  coming  of  Titus."  These 
tvv  o  passages  plainly  relate  to  the  same  journey  of  Titus, 
in  meeting  with  whom  St.  Paul  had  been  disappointed 
at  Troas,  and  rejoiced  in  Macedonia.  And,  amongst 
other  reasons  which  fix  the  former  passage  to  the  coming 
of  Titus  out  of  Greece,  is  the  consideration  that  it.  was 
nothing  to  the  Corinthians  that  St.  Paul  did  not  meet  with 
Titus  at  Troas,  were  it  not  that  he  was  to  bring  intelli- 
gence from  Corinth.  The  mention  of  the  disappointment 
in  this  place,  upon  any  other  supposition,  is  irrelative. 


No.  IX. 

Chap.  xi.  24,  25.  "  Of  the  Jews  five  times  received  I 
forty  stripes  save  one;  thrice  was  I  beaten  with  rods; 
once  was  I  stoned  ;  thrice  I  suffered  shipwreck ;  a  night 
and  a  day  I  have  been  in  the  deep." 

These  particulars  cannot  be  extracted  out  of  the  Acts 
of  the  Apostles  ;  which  proves,  as  hath  been  already  ob- 
served, that  the  epistle  was  not  framed  from  the  history  ; 


84  SECOND    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS. 

yet  ihey  are  consistent  with  it,  which,  considering  how 
numerically  circumstantial  the  account  is,  is  more  than 
could  happen  to  arbitrary  and  independent  fictions. 
When  I  say  that  these  particulars  are  consistent  with  the 
history,  I  mean,  first,  that  there  is  no  article  in  the  enu- 
meration which  is  contradicted  by  the  history :  secondly, 
that  the  history,  though  silent  with  respect  to  many  of  the 
facts  here  enumerated,  has  left  space  for  the  existence  of 
these  facts,  consistent  with  the  fidelity  of  its  own  narra- 
tion. 

First,  No  contradiction  is  discoverable  between  the 
epistle  and  the  history.  When  St.  Paul  says,  thrice  was 
I  beaten  with  rods,  although  the  history  record  only  one 
beating  with  rods,  viz.  at  Philippi,  Acts,  xvi.  22,  yet  is 
there  no  contradiction.  It  is  only  the  omission  in  one 
book  of  what  is  related  in  another.  But,  had  the  history 
contained  accounts  of  four  beatings  with  rods,  at  the 
time  of  writing  this  epistle,  in  which  St.  Paul  says  that 
he  had  only  suflfered  three,  there  would  have  been  a  con- 
tradiction properly  so  called.  The  same  observation  ap- 
plies generally  to  the  other  parts  of  the  enumeration,  con- 
cerning which  the  history  is  silent:  but  there  is  one 
clause  in  the  quotation  particularly  deserving  of  remark ; 
because,  when  confronted  with  the  history,  it  furnishes 
the  nearest  approach  to  a  contradiction,  without  a  con- 
tradiction being  actually  incurred,  of  any  I  remember  to 
have  met  with.  "  Once,"  saith  St.  Paul,  "was  I  stoned.'* 
Does  the  history  relate  that  St.  Paul,  prior  to  the  writing 
of  this  epistle,  had  been  stoned  more  than  once  ?  The 
history  mentions  distinctly  one  occasion  upon  which  St. 
Paul  was  stoned,  viz.  at  Lystra  in  Lycaonia.  "  Then 
came  thither  certain  Jews  from  Antioch  and  Iconium, 
who  persuaded  the  people  ;  and,  having  stoned  Paul, 
drew  him  out  of  the  city,  supposing  he  had  been  dead ;" 


SECOND    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS.  85 

chap.  xiv.  19.  And  it  mentions  also  another  occasion  in 
which  *'  an  assault  was  made  both  of  the  Gentiles,  and 
also  of  the  Jews  with  their  rulers,  to  use  them  despite- 
fully  and  to  stone  them  ;  but  they  were  aware  of  it," 
the  history  proceeds  to  tells  us,  '*  and  fled  into  Lystra  and 
Derbe."  This  happened  at  Iconium,  prior  to  the  date  of 
the  epistle.  Now,  had  the  assault  been  completed  ;  had 
the  history  related  that  a  stone  was  thrown,  as  it  relates 
that  preparations  were  made  both  by  Jews  and  Gentiles 
to  stone  Paul  and  his  companions  ;  or  even  had  the  ac- 
count of  this  transaction  stopped,  without  going  on  to  in- 
form us  that  Paul  and  his  companions  were  Vaware  of 
their  danger  and  fled,^a  contradiction  between  the  his- 
tory and  the  epistle  would  have  ensued.  Truth  is  neces- 
sarily consistent ;  but  it  is  scarcely  possible  that  inde7 
pendent  accounts,  not  having  truth  to  guide  them,  should 
thus  advance  to  the jverj^  brink  of  contradiction  without 
falling  into  it.. 

Secondly,  I  say  that,  if  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  be 
silent  concerning  many  of  the  instances  enumerated  in 
the  epistle,  this  silence  may  be  accounted  for,  from  the 
plan  and  fabric  of  the  history.  The  date  of  the  epistle 
synchronizes  with  the  beginning  of  the  twentieth  chapter 
of  the  Acts.  The  part,  therefore,  of  the  history,  which 
precedes  the  twentieth  chapter,  is  the  only  part  in  which 
can  be  found  any  notice  of  the  persecutions  to  which  St. 
Paul  refers.  Now  it  does  not  appear  that  the  author  of 
the  history  was  with  St.  Paul  until  his  departure  from 
Troas,  on  his  way  to  Macedonia,  as  related  chap.  xvi.  10; 
or  rather  indeed  the  contrary  appears.  It  is  in  this  point 
of  the  history  that  the  language  changes.  In  the  seventh 
and  eighth  verses  of  this  chapter  the  third  person  is  used. 
*'  After  they  were  come  to  Mysia,  they  assayed  to  go  into 
Bithynia,  but  the  Spirit  suffered  them  not ;  and  they  pass- 


86  SECOND    EPISTLE    TO    THE    COKI^^TIIIANS. 

ing  by  Mysia  came  to  Troas :"  and  the  third  person  is  in 
Hke  manner  constantly  used  throughout  the  foregoing 
part  of  the  history.  In  the  tenth  verse  of  this  chapter, 
the  first  person  comes  in :  "  After  Paul  had  seen  the 
vision,  immediately  we  endeavored  to  go  into  Macedo- 
nia :  assuredly  gathering  that  the  Lord  had  called  us 
to  preach  the  Gospel  unto  them."  Now,  from  this  time 
to  the  writing  of  the  epistle,  the  history  occupies  four 
chapters  ;  yet  it  is  in  these,  if  in  any,  that  a  regular  or 
continued  account  of  the  apostle's  life  is  to  be  expected : 
for  how  succinctly  his  history  is  delivered  in  the  pre- 
ceding part  of  the  book,  that  is  to  say,  from  the  time  of 
his  conversion  to  the  time  when  the  historian  joined  him 
at  Troas,  except  the  particulars  of  his  conversion  itself, 
which  are  related  circumstantially,  may  be  understood 
from  the  following  observations : — 

The  history  of  a  period  of  sixteen  years  is  comprised 
in  less  than  three  chapters ;  and  of  these  a  material  part 
is  taken  up  with  discourses.  After  his  conversion  he 
continued  in  the  neighborhood  of  Damascus,  according 
to  the  history,  for  a  certain  considerable,  though  indefi- 
nite, length  of  time,  according  to  his  own  words  (Gal.  i. 
18.)  for  three  years  ;  of  which  no  other  account  is  given 
than  this  short  one,  that  "straightway  he  preached  Christ 
in  the  synagogues,  that  he  is  the  Son  of  God ;  that  all 
that  heard  him  were  amazed,  and  said.  Is  not  this  he  that 
destroyed  them  which  called  on  this  name  in  Jerusalem  ? 
that  he  increased  the  more  in  strength,  and  confounded 
the  Jews  which  dwelt  at  Damascus  :  and  that,  after  many 
days  were  fulfilled,  the  Jews  took  counsel  to  kill  him." 
From  Damascus  he  proceeded  to  Jerusalem  :  and  of  his 
residence  there  nothing  more  particular  is  recorded  than 
that  "  he  was  with  the  apostles,  coming  in  and  going  out ; 
that  he  spake  boldly  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  and 


SECOND    EriSTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS.  87 

disputed  against  the  Grecians,  who  went  about  to  kill 
him."  From  Jerusalem,  the  history  sends  him  to  his  na- 
tive city  of  Tarsus.*  It  seems  probable,  from  the  order 
and  disposition  of  the  history,  that  St.  Paul's  stay  at 
Tarsus  was  of  some  continuance  ;  for  we  hear  nothing  of 
him  until,  after  a  long  apparent  interval,  and  much  inter- 
jacent narrative,  Barnabas,  desirous  of  Paul's  assistance 
upon  the  enlargement  of  the  Christian  mission,  went  to 
Tarsus  "  for  to  seek  him."f  We  cannot  doubt  but  that 
the  new  apostle  had  been  busied  in  his  ministry  ;  yet  of 
what  he  did,  or  what  he  suffered,  during  this  period, 
which  may  include  three  or  four  years,  the  history  pro- 
fesses not  to  deliver  any  information.  As  Tarsus  was 
situated  upon  the  sea-coast,  and  as,  though  Tarsus  w^as 
his  home,  yet  it  is  probable  he  visited  from  thence  many 
other  places  for  the  purpose  of  preaching  the  Gospel,  it  is 
not  unlikely  that,  in  the  course  of  three  or  four  years, 
he  might  undertake  many  short  voyages  to  neighboring 
countries,  in  the  navigating  of  which  we  may  be  allowed 
to  suppose  that  some  of  those  disasters  and  shipwrecks 
befell  him  to  which  he  refers  in  the  quotation  before  us, 
"  thrice  I  suffered  shipwreck,  a  night  and  a  day  I  have 
been  in  the  deep."  This  last  clause  I  am  inclined  to  in- 
terpret of  his  being  obliged  to  take  to  an  open  boat,  upon 
the  loss  of  the  ship,  and  his  continuing  out  at  sea  in  that 
dangerous  situation  a  night  and  a  day.  St.  Paul  is  here 
recounting  his  sufferings,  not  relating  miracles.  From 
Tarsus,  Barnabas  brought  Paul  to  Antioch,  and  there  he 
remained  a  year  :  but  of  the  transactions  of  that  year  no 
other  description  is  given  than  what  is  contained  in  the 
last  four  verses  of  the  eleventh  chapter.  After  a  more  /^ 
solemn  dedication  to  the  ministry,  Barnabas  and  Paul 
proceeded  from  Antioch  to  Cilicia,  and  from  thence  they 

*  Acts,  chap,  ix.,  30.  f  Chap,  xi.,  25. 


■-^^     "A:  "      v.\SS 


88  SECOND    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS. 

sailed  to  Cyprus,  of  which  voyage  no  particulars  are 
mentioned.  Upon  their  return  from  Cyprus,  they  made  a 
progress  together  through  the  Lesser  Asia ;  and,  though 
two  remarkable  speeches  be  preserved,  and  a  few  inci- 
dents in  the  course  of  their  travels  circumstantially  re- 
lated, yet  is  the  account  of  this  progress,  upon  the  whole, . 
given  professedly  with  conciseness :  for  instance,  at  Ico- 
nium,  it  is  said  that  they  abode  a  long  time;*  yet  of  this 
long  abode,  except  concerning  the  manner  in  which  they 
were  driven  away,  no  memoir  is  inserted  in  the  history. 
The  whole  is  wrapped  up  in  one  short  summary,  "  They 
spake  boldly  in  the  Lord,  which  gave  testimony  unto  the 
word  of  his  grace,  and  granted  signs  and  wonders  to  be 
done  by  their  hands."  Having  completed  their  progress, 
the  two  apostles  returned  to  Antioch,  "  and  there  they 
abode  long  time  with  the  disciples."  Here  we  have  an- 
other large  portion  of  time  passed  over  in  silence.  To 
this  succeeded  a  journey  to  Jerusalem,  upon  a  dispute 
which  then  much  agitated  the  Christian  church,  concern- 
ing the  obligation  of  the  law  of  Moses.  When  the  object 
of  that  journey  was  completed,  Paul  proposed  to  Barna- 
bas to  go  again  and  visit  their  brethren  in  every  city 
where  they  had  preached  the  word  of  the  Lord.  The 
execution  of  this  plan  carried  our  apostle  through  Syria, 
Cilicia,  and  many  provinces  of  the  Lesser  Asia ;  yet  is  the 
account  of  the  whole  journey  dispatched  in  four  verses 
of  the  sixteenth  chapter. 

If  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  had  undertaken  to  exhibit 
regular  annals  of  St.  Paul's  ministry,  or  even  any  con- 
tinued account  of  his  life,  from  his  conversion  at  Damas- 
cus to  his  imprisonment  at  Rome,  I  should  have  thought 
the  omission  of  the  circumstances  referred  to  in  our  epis- 
tle a  matter  of  reasonable  objection.     But  when  it  ap- 

*  Acts,  chap,  xiv.,  3. 


SECOND    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS.  89 

pears,  from  the  history  itself,  that  large  portions  of  St. 
Paul's  life  were  either  passed  over  in  silence,  or  only 
slightly  touched  upon,  and  that  nothing  more  than  certain 
detached  incidents  and  discourses  is  related ;  when  we 
observe,  also,  that  the  author  of  the  history  did  not  join 
our  apostle's  society  till  a  few  years  before  the  writing 
of  the  epistle,  at  least  that  there  is  no  proof  in  the  history 
that  he  did  so ;  in  comparing  the  history  with  the  epistle, 
we  shall  not  be  surprised  by  the  discovery  of  omissions ; 
we  shall  ascribe  it  to  truth  that  there  is  no  contradiction. 


No.  X. 

Chap.  iii.  1.  *'  Do  we  begin  again  to  commend  our- 
selves ?  or  need  we,  as  some  others,  epistles  of  commen- 
dation to  you?" 

"As  some  others."  Turn  to  Acts,  xviii.  27,  and  you 
will  find  that,  a  short  time  before  the  writing  of  this  epistle, 
Apollos  had  gone  to  Corinth  with  letters  of  commenda- 
tion from  the  Ephesian  Christians :  "  And,  when  Apollos 
was  disposed  to  pass  into  Achaia,  the  brethren  wrote,  ex- 
horting the  disciples  to  receive  him."  Here  the  words 
of  the  epistle  bear  the  appearance  of  alluding  to  some 
specific  instance,  and  the  history  supplies  that  instance  ; 
it  supplies,  at  least,  an  instance  as  apposite  as  possible 
to  the  terms  which  the  apostle  uses,  and  to  the  date  and 
direction  of  the  epistle  in  which  they  are  found.  The 
letter  which  Apollos  carried  from  Ephesus  was  pre- 
cisely the  letter  of  commendation  which  St.  Paul  meant; 
and  it  was  to  Achaia,  of  which  Corinth  was  the  capital, 
and  indeed  to  Corinth  itself,  (Acts,  chap.  xix.  1),  that 
Apollos  carried  it ;  and  it  was  about  two  years  before  the 
writing  of  this  epistle.      If  St.  Paul's  words  be  rather 


90  SECOND    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS. 

thought  to  refer  to  some  general  usage  which  then  ob- 
tained among  Christian  churches,  the  case  of  ApoUos  ex- 
emplifies that  usage  ;  and  affords  that  species  of  confirma- 
tion to  the  epistle  which  arises  from  seeing  the  manners 
of  the  age  in  which  it  purports  to  be  written  faithfully  pre- 
served. 


No.  XI. 

Chap.  xiii.  1.     "This  is  the  third  time  I  am  coming  to 

you  ;"   TQI,TOV   T8T0   SQXO^ai.  ,>V 

Do  not  these  words  import  that  the  writer  had  been  at 
Corinth  twice  before?  Yet,  if  they  import  this,  they 
overset  every  congruity  we  have  been  endeavoring  to 
establish.  The  Acts  of  the  Apostles  record  only  two 
journeys  of  St.  Paul  to  Corinth.  We  have  all  along  sup- 
posed, what  every  mark  of  time  except  this  expression 
indicates,  that  this  epistle  was  written  between  the  first 
and  second  of  these  journeys.  If  St.  Paul  had  been  al- 
ready twice  at  Corinth,  this  supposition  must  be  given 
up ;  and  every  argument  or  observation  which  depends 
upon  it  falls  to  the  ground.  Again,  the  Acts  of  the  Apos- 
tles not  only  record  no  more  than  two  journeys  of  St. 
Paul  to  Corinth,  but  do  not  allow  us  to  suppose  that  more 
than  two  such  journeys  could  be  made  or  intended  bj^ 
him  within  the  period  which  the  history  comprises ;  for, 
from  his  first  journey  into  Greece  to  his  first  imprisonment 
at  Rome,  with  which  the  history  concludes,  the  apostle's 
time  is  accounted  for.  If,  therefore,  the  epistle  w^as  writ- 
ten after  the  second  journey  to  Corinth,  and  upon  the 
view  and  expectation  of  a  third,  it  must  have  been  written 
after  his  first  imprisonment  at  Rome ;  i.  e.  after  the  time 
to  which  the  history  extends.     When  I  first  read  over 


SECOND    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS.  91 

this  epistle  with  the  particular  view  of  comparing  it  with 
the  history,  which  I  chose  to  do  without  consulting  any 
commentary  whatever,  I  own  that  I  felt  myself  con- 
founded by  this  text.  It  appeared  to  contradict  the  opin- 
ion, whicli  I  had  been  led  by  a  great  variety  of  circum- 
stances to  form,  concerning  the  date  and  occasion  of  the 
epistle.  At  length,  however,  it  occurred  to  my  thoughts 
to  inquire  whether  the  passage  did  necessarily  imply  that 
St.  Paul  had  been  at  Corinth  twice ;  or  whether,  when 
he  says,  "  this  is  the  third  time  I  am  coming  to  you,"  he 
might  mean  only  that  this  was  the  third  time  that  he  was 
ready,  that  he  was  prepared,  that  he  intended,  to  set  out 
upon  his  journey  to  Corinth.  I  recollected  that  he  had 
once  before  this  purposed  to  visit  Corinth,  and  had  been 
disappointed  in  this  purpose  ;  which  disappointment  forms 
the  subject  of  much  apology  and  protestation  in  the  first 
and  second  chapters  of  the  epistle.  Now,  if  the  journey 
in  which  he  had  been  disappointed  was  reckoned  by  him 
one  of  the  times  in  which  "  he  was  coming  to  them,"  then 
the  present  would  be  the  third  time,  i.  e.  of  his  being 
ready  and  prepared  to  come ;  although  he  had  been  act- 
ually at  Corinth  only  oiice  before.  This  conjecture  being 
taken  up,  a  farther  examination  of  the  passage  and  the 
epistle  produced  proofs  which  placed  it  beyond  doubt. 
"  This  is  the  third  time  I  am  coming  to  you  :"  in  the  verse 
following  these  words,  he  adds,  *'  I  told  you  before,  and 
foretell  you,  as  if  I  were  present  the  second  time  ;  and,  be- 
ing absent,  now  I  write  to  them  which  heretofore  have 
sinned,  and  to  all  other,  that,  if  I  come  again,  I  will  not 
spare."  In  this  verse  the  apostle  is  declaring  beforehand 
what  he  would  do  in  his  intended  visit :  his  expression 
therefore,  "  as  if  I  were  present  the  second  time,"  relates 
to  that  visit.  But,  if  his  future  visit  would  only  make 
him  present  among  them  a  second  time,  it  follows  that  he 


92  SECOND    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS. 

had  been  already  there  but  once.  Again,  in  the  fifteenth 
verse  of  the  first  chapter,  he  tells  them,  "  In  this  confi- 
dence, I  was  minded  to  come  unto  you  before,  that  ye 
might  have  a  second  benefit."  Why  a  second,  and  not  a 
third,  benefit?  Why  Sevtsquv^  and  not  TqnrfV^  x^Q^*',  if  the 
TQirov  sQxof^ai'  in  the  fifteenth  chapter  meant  a  third  visit? 
For,  though  the  visit  in  the  first  chapter  be  that  visit  in 
which  he  was  disappointed,  yet,  as  it  is  evident  from  the 
epistle  that  he  had  never  been  at  Corinth  from  the  time 
of  the  disappointment  to  the  time  of  writing  the  epistle,  it 
follows  that,  if  it  was  only  a  second  visit  in  which  he  was 
disappointed,  then  it  could  only  be  a  second  visit  which 
he  proposed  now.  But  the  text  which  I  think  is  decisive 
of  the  question,  if  any  question  remain  upon  the  subject, 
is  the  fourteenth  verse  of  the  twelfth  chapter :  "  Behold, 
the  third  time  I  am  ready  to  come  to  you ;"  Ids  j^noy 
BToifiwg  Bxoi  eXdeip.  It  is  very  clear  that  the  jqitov  eioi/ncog 
exai  bXObiv  of  the  twelfth  chapter,  and  the  tqlxov  jsto  BQxofiai, 
of  the  thirteenth  chapter,  are  equivalent  expressions,  were 
intended  to  convey  the  same  meaning,  and  to  relate  to  the 
same  journey.  The  comparison  of  these  phrases  gives 
us  St.  Paul's  own  explanation  of  his  own  words ;  and  it 
is  that  very  explanation  which  we  are  contending  for,  viz. 
that  iQirov  rsio  egxo/xat  does  not  mean  that  he  was  com- 
ing a  third  time,  but  that  this  was  the  third  time  he  was 
in  readiness  to  come,  t^hov  sToi/jojg  Bxojf.  I  do  not  appre- 
hend that,  after  this,  it  can  be  necessary  to  call  to  our  aid 
the  reading  of  the  Alexandrian  manuscript,  which  gives 
BToi/Aug  f/w  eXdeit^  in  the  thirteenth  chapter  as  well  as  in  the 
twelfth  ;  or  of  the  Syriac  and  Coptic  versions,  which  fol- 
low that  reading ;  because  I  allow  that  this  reading,  be- 
sides not  being  sufliciently  supported  by  ancient  copies, 
is  paraphrastical,  and  has  been  inserted  for  the  purpose 
of  expressing  more  unequivocally  the  sense  which  the 


SECOND    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS.  93 

shorter  expression  tqitov  toto  egxo/nai  was  supposed  to 
carry.  Upon  the  whole,  the  matter  is  sufficiently  cer- 
tain ;  nor  do  I  propose  it  as  a  new  interpretation  of  the 
text  which  contains  the  difficulty,  for  the  same  was  given 
by  Grotius  long  ago ;  but  I  thought  it  the  clearest  way  of 
explaining  the  subject,  to  describe  the  manner  in  which 
the  difficulty,  the  solution,  and  the  proofs  of  that  solution, 
successively  presented  themselves  to  my  inquiries.  Now, 
in  historical  researches,  a  reconciled  inconsistency  be- 
comes a  positive  argument.  First,  because  an  impostor 
generally  guards  against  the  appearance  of  inconsist- 
ency :  and  secondly,  because,  when  apparent  inconsist- 
encies are  found,  it  is  seldom  that  any  thing  but  truth 
.renders  them  capable  of  reconciliation.  The  existence 
7  of  the  difficulty  proves  the  want  ©C  absence  of  that  cau- 
tion which  usually  accompanies  the  consciousness  of 
fraud  ;  and  the  solution  proves  that  it  is  not  the  collusion 
of  fortuitous  propositions  which  we  have  to  deal  with, 
but  that  a  thread  of  truth  winds  through  the  whole,  which 
preserves  every  circumstance  in  its  place. 


No.   XII. 

Chap.  X.  14 — 16.  "  We  are  come  as  far  as  to  you  also, 
in  preaching  the  Gospel  of  Christ ;  not  boasting  of  things 
without  our  measure,  that  is,  of  other  men's  labors ;  but 
having  hope,  when  your  faith  is  increased,  that  we  shall 
be  enlarged  by  you  according  to  our  rule,  abundantly  to 
preach  the  Gospel  in  the  regions  beyond  you." 

This  quotation  affi)rds  an  indirect,  and  therefore  un- 
suspicious, but  at  the  same  time  a  distinct  and  indubita- 
ble, recognition  of  the  truth  and  exactness  of  the  history. 
I  consider  it  to  be  implied,  by  the  words  of  the  quotation, 


94  SECOND    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS. 

that  Corinth  was  the  extremity  of  St.  Paul's  travels  hith- 
erto. He  expresses  to  the  Corinthians  his  hope  that,  in 
some  future  visit,  he  might  "  preach  the  Gospel  to  the  re- 
gions beyond  them ;"  which  imports  that  he  had  not  hith- 
erto proceeded  *'  beyond  them,"  but  that  Corinth  was  as 
yet  the  farthest  point  of  boundary  of  his  travels. — Now, 
how  is  St.  Paul's  first  journey  into  Europe,  which  was 
the  only  one  he  had  taken  before  the  writing  of  the 
epistle,  traced  out  in  the  history?  Sailing  from  Asia, 
he  landed  at  Philippi ;  from  Philippi,  traversing  the  east- 
ern coast  of  the  peninsula,  he  passed  through  Amphipolis 
and  Appolonia  to  Thessalonica ;  from  thence  through 
Berea  to  Athens,  and  from  Athens  to  Corinth,  where  he 
stopped ;  and  from  whence,  after  a  residence  of  a  year 
and  a  half,  he  sailed  back  into  Syria.  So  that  Corinth 
was  the  last  place  which  he  visited  in  the  peninsula :  was 
the  place  from  which  he  returned  into  Asia ;  and  was,  as 
such,  the  boundary  and  limit  of  his  progress.  He  could 
not  have  said  the  same  thing,  viz.  "  I  hope  hereafter  to 
visit  the  regions  beyond  you,"  in  an  epistle  to  the  Philip- 
pians,  or  in  an  epistle  to  the  Thessalonians,  inasmuch  as 
he  must  be  deemed  to  have  already  visited  the  regions  be- 
yond them,  having  proceeded  from  those  cities  to  other 
parts  of  Greece.  But  from  Corinth  he  returned  home ; 
every  part  therefore  beyond  that  city  might  probably  be 
said  as  it  is  said  in  the  passage  before  us,  to  be  unvisited. 
Yet  is  this  propriety  the  spontaneous  effect  of  truth,  and 
produced  without  meditation  or  design. 


I 


CHAPTEE  V. 

THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE  GALATIANS. 

No.    I. 

The  argument  of  this  epistle,  in  some  measure,  proves 
its  antiquity.  It  will  hardly  be  doubted  but  that  it  was 
written  whilst  the  dispute  concerning  the  circumcision  of 
Gentile  converts  was  fresh  in  men's  minds  ;  for,  even 
supposing  it  to  have  been  a  forgery,  the  only  credible 
motive  that  can  be  assigned  for  the  forgery  was  to  bring 
the  name  and  authority  of  the  apostle  into  this  contro- 
versy. No  design  could  be  so  insipid,  or  so  unlikely  to 
enter  into  the  thoughts  of  any  man,  as  to  produce  an 
epistle  written  earnestly  and  pointedly  upon  one  side  of 
a  controversy,  when  the  controversy  itself  was  dead,  and 
the  question  no  longer  interesting  to  any  description  of 
readers  whatever.  Now  the  controversy  concerning  the 
circumcision  of  the  Gentile  Christians  was  of  such  a  na- 
ture that,  if  it  rose  at  all,  it  must  have  arisen  in  the  be- 
ginning of  Christianity.  As  Judea  was  the  scene  of  the 
Christian  history  ;  as  the  Author  and  preachers  of  Chris- 
tianity were  Jews  ;  as  the  religion  itself  acknowledged,  and 
was  founded  upon,  the  Jewish  religion,  in  contradistinc- 
tion to  every  other  religion  then  professed  amongst  man- 
kind, it  was  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  some  of  its  teach- 
ers should  carry  it  out  in  the  world  rather  as  a  sect  and 
modification  of  Judaism  than  as  a  separate  original  rev- 
elation ;   or   that  they  should  invite  their  proselytes  to 


96  THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    GALATIANS. 

those  observances  in  which  they  lived  themselves.  This 
was  likely  to  happen  :  but  if  it  did  not  happen  at  first ; 
if,  whilst  the  religion  was  in  the  hands  of  Jewish  teach- 
ers, no  such  claim  was  advanced,  no  such  condition  was 
attempted  to  be  imposed,  it  is  not  probable  that  the  doc- 
trine would  be  started,  much  less  that  it  should  prevail, 
in  any  future  period.  I  likewise  think  that  those  preten- 
sions of  Judaism  were  much  more  likely  to  be  insisted 
upon  whilst  the  Jews  continued  a  nation  than  after  their 
fall  and  dispersion  ;  whilst  Jerusalem  and  the  temple 
stood  than  after  the  destruction  brought  on  them  by  the 
Roman  arms,  the  fatal  cessation  of  the  sacrifice  and  the 
priesthood,  the  humiliating  loss  of  their  country,  and, 
with  it,  of  the  great  rites  and  symbols  of  their  institution. 
It  should  seem,  therefore,  from  the  nature  of  the  subject, 
and  the  situation  of  the  parties,  that  this  controversy  was 
carried  on  in  the  interval  between  the  preaching  of  Chris- 
tianity to  the  Gentiles  and  the  invasion  of  Titus ;  and 
that  our  present  epistle,  which  was  undoubtedly  intended 
to  bear  a  part  in  this  controversy,  must  be  referred  to 
the  same  period. 

But,  again,  the  epistle  supposes  that  certain  designing 
adherents  of  the  Jewish  law  had  crept  into  the  churches 
of  Galatia ;  and  had  been  endeavoring,  and  but  too  suc- 
cessfully, to  persuade  the  Galatic  converts  that  they  had 
been  taught  the  new  religion  imperfectly,  and  at  second 
hand  ;  that  the  founder  of  their  church  himself  possessed 
only  an  inferior  and  deputed  commission,  the  seat  of  truth 
and  authority  being  in  the  apostles  and  elders  of  Jerusa- 
lem ;  moreover,  that,  whatever  he  might  profess  amongst 
them,  he  had  himself,  at  other  times  and  in  other  places, 
given  way  to  the  doctrine  of  circumcision.  The  epistle 
is  unintelligible  without  supposing  all  this.  Referring 
therefore  to  this,  as  to  what  had  actually  passed,  we  find 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    GALATIANS.  97 

St.  Paul  treating  so  unjust  an  attempt  to  undermine  his 
credit,  and  to  introduce  amongst  his  converts  a  doctrine 
which  he  had  universally  reprobated,  in  terms  of  great 
asperity  and  indignation.  And  in  order  to  refute  the  sus- 
picions which  had  been  raised  concerning  the  fidehty  of 
his  teaching,  as  well  as  to  assert  the  independency  and 
divine  original  of  his  mission,  we  find  him  appealing  to 
the  history  of  his  conversion,  to  his  conduct  under  it,  to 
the  manner  in  which  he  had  conferred  with  the  apostles 
when  he  met  with  them  at  Jerusalem :  alleging  that,  so 
far  was  his  doctrine  from  being  derived  from  them,  or 
they  from  exercising  any  superiority  over  him,  that  they 
had  simply  assented  to  what  he  had  already  preached 
amongst  the  Gentiles,  and  which  preaching  was  commu- 
nicated not  by  them  to  him,  but  by  himself  to  them ;  that 
he  had  maintained  the  liberty  of  the  Gentile  church,  by 
opposing,  upon  one  occasion,  an  apostle  to  the  face,  when 
the  timidity  of  his  behavior  seemed  to  endanger  it ;  that 
from  the  first,  that  all  along,  that  to  that  hour,  he  had  con- 
stantly resisted  the  claims  of  Judaism ;  and  that  the  per- 
secutions which  he  daily  underwent,  at  the  hands,  or  by 
the  instigation  of,  the  Jews,  and  of  which  he  bore  in  his 
person  the  marks  and  scars,  might  have  been  avoided  by 
him  if  he  had  consented  to  employ  his  labors  in  bringing, 
through  the  medium  of  Christianity,  converts  over  to  the 
Jewish  institution,  for  then  "  would  the  offence  of  the 
cross  have  ceased."  Now  an  impostor,  who  had  forged 
the  epistle  for  the  purpose  of  producing  St.  Paul's  au- 
thority in  the  dispute,  which,  as  hath  been  observed,  is 
the  only  credible  motive  that  can  be  assigned  for  the  for- 
gery, might  have  made  the  apostle  deliver  his  opinion 
upon  the  subject  in  strong  and  decisive  terms,  or  might 
have  put  his  name  to  a  train  of  reasoning  and  argumen- 
tation upon  that  side  of  the  question  which  the  imposture 

5 


98  THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    GALATIANS. 

was  intended  to  recommend.  I  can  allow  the  possibility 
of  such  a  scheme  as  that.  But  for  a  writer,  with  this 
purpose  in  view,  to  feign  a  series  of  transactions  sup- 
posed to  have  passed  amongst  the  Christians  of  Galatia, 
and  then  to  counterfeit  expressions  of  anger  and  resent- 
ment excited  by  these  transactions ;  to  make  the  apostle 
travel  back  into  his  own  history,  and  into  a  recital  of  va- 
rious passages  of  his  life,  some  indeed  directly,  but  others 
obliquely,  and  others  even  obscurely,  bearing  upon  the 
point  in  question ;  in  a  word,  to  substitute  narrative  for 
argument,  expostulation  and  complaint  for  dogmatic  po- 
sitions and  controversial  reasoning,  in  a  writing  properly 
controversial,  and  of  which  the  aim  and  design  was  to 
support  one  side  of  a  much-agitated  question — is  a  method 
so  intricate,  and  so  unlike  the  methods  pursued  by  all 
other  impostors,  as  to  require  very  flagrant  proofs  of  im- 
position to  induce  us  to  believe  it  to  be  one. 


No.   II. 

In  this  number  I  shall  endeavor  to  prove, 

1.  That  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians,  and  the  Acts  of 
the  Apostles,  were  written  without  any  communication 
with  each  other. 

2.  That  the  epistle,  though  written  without  any  com- 
munication with  the  history,  by  recital,  implication,  or 
reference,  bears  testimony  to  many  of  the  facts  contained 
in  it. 

First,  the  epistle,  and  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  were 
written  without  any  communication  with  each  other. 

To  judge  of  this  point,  we  must  examine  those  passages, 
in  each,  which  describe  the  same  transaction  ;  for,  if  the 
author  of  either  writing  derived  his  information  from  the 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    GALATIANS.  99 

account  which  he  had  seen  in  the  other,  when  he  came 
to  speak  of  the  same  transaction,  he  would  follow  that 
account.  The  history  of  St.  Paul,  at  Damascus,  as  read 
in  the  Acts,  and  as  referred  to  by  the  epistle,  forms  an 
instance  of  this  sort.  According  to  the  Acts,  Paul  (after 
his  conversion)  was  certain  days  with  the  *'  disciples 
which  were  at  Damascus.  And  straightway  he  preached 
Christ  in  the  synagogues,  that  he  is  the  Son  of  God. 
But  all  that  heard  him  were  amazed,  and  said.  Is  not  this 
he  which  destroyed  them  which  called  on  this  name  in 
Jerusalem,  and  came  hither  for  that  intent,  that  he  might 
bring  them  bound  unto  the  chief  priests  ?  But  Saul  in- 
creased the  more  in  strength,  confounding  the  Jews  which 
were  at  Damascus,  proving  that  this  is  very  Christ.  And, 
after  that  many  days  were  fulfilled,  the  Jews  took  counsel 
to  kill  him.  But  their  laying  wait  was  known  of  Saul ; 
and  they  watched  the  gates  day  and  night  to  kill  him. 
Then  the  disciples  took  him  by  night,  and  let  him  down 
by  the  wall  in  a  basket.  And,  when  Saul  was  come  to 
Jerusalem,  he  assayed  to  join  himself  to  the  disciples." 
Acts,  chap.  ix.  19 — 26. 

According  to  the  epistle,  "  When  it  pleased  God,  who 
separated  me  from  my  mother's  womb,  and  called  me  by 
his  grace,  to  reveal  his  own  Son  in  me,  that  I  might 
preach  him  among  the  heathen,  immediately  I  conferred 
not  with  flesh  and  blood,  neither  went  I  up  to  Jerusalem 
to  them  which  were  apostles  before  me  ;  but  I  went  into 
Arabia,  and  returned  again  to  Damascus  ;  then,  after 
three  years,  I  went  up  to  Jerusalem."  " 

Besides  the  difference  observable  in  the  terms  and  gen- 
eral complexion  of  these  two  accounts,  "  the  journey  into 
Arabia,"  mentioned  in  the  epistle,  and  omitted  in  the  his- 
tory, affords  full  proof  that  there  existed  no  correspond- 
ence between  these  writers.     If  the  narrative  in  the  Acts 


100  THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    GALATIANS. 

had  been  made  up  from  the  epistle,  it  is  impossible  that 
this  journey  should  have  been  passed  over  in  silence  ;  if 
the  epistle  had  been  composed  out  of  what  the  author  had 
read  of  St.  Paul's  history  in  the  Acts,  it  is  unaccountable 
that  it  should  have  been  inserted.* 

The  journey  to  Jerusalem,  related  in  the  second  chap- 
ter of  the  epistle  ("  then,  fourteen  years  after,  I  went  up 
again  to  Jerusalem"),  supplies  another  example  of  the 
same  kind.  Either  this  was  the  journey  described  in  the 
fifteenth  chapter  of  the  Acts,  when  Paul  and  Barnabas 
were  sent  from  Antioch  to  Jerusalem,  to  consult  the  apos- 
tles and  elders  upon  the  question  of  the  Gentile  converts  ; 
or  it  was  some  journey  of  which  the  history  does  not  take 
notice.  If  the  first  opinion  be  followed,  the  discrepancy 
in  the  two  accounts  is  so  considerable  that  it  is  not  with- 
out difficulty  they  can  be  adapted  to  the  same  transac- 
tion :  so  that,  upon  this  supposition,  there  is  no  place  for 
suspecting  that  the  writers  were  guided  or  assisted  by 
each  other.  If  the  latter  opinion  be  preferred,  we  have 
then  a  journey  to  Jerusalem,  and  a  conference  with  the 
principal  members  of  the  church  there,  circumstantially 
related  in  the  epistle,  and  entirely  omitted  in  the  Acts ; 
and  we  are  at  liberty  to  repeat  the  observation,  which 
we  before  made,  that  the  omission  of  so  material  a  fact 
in  the  history  is  inexplicable,  if  the  historian  had  read  the 
epistle ;  and  that  the  insei'tion  of  it  in  the  epistle,  if  the 

*  N.B.  The  Acts  of  the  Apostles  simply  inform  us  that  St.  Paul  left  Da- 
mascus in  order  to  go  to  Jerusalem,  "  after  many  days  were  fulfilled."  If 
any  one  doubt  whether  the  words  "  many  days  "  could  be  intended  to  ex- 
press a  period  which  included  a  term  of  three  years,  he  will  find  a  complete 
instance  of  the  same  phrase  used  with  the  same  latitude  in  the  First  Book 
of  Kings,  chap.  xi.  38,  39  :  "  And  Shimei  dwelt  at  Jerusalem  ma7iy  days  ; 
and  it  came  to  pass,  at  the  end  of  three  years,  that  two  of  the  servants  of 
Shimei  ran  away." 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    GALATIANS.  101 

writer  derived  his  information  from  the  history,  is  not 
less  so. 

St.  Peter's  visit  to  Antioch,  during  which  the  dispute 
arose  between  him  and  St.  Paul,  is  not  mentioned  in  the 
Acts. 

If  we  connect  with  these  instances  the  general  obser- 
vation that  no  scrutiny  can  discover  the  smallest  trace  of 
transcription  or  imitation  either  in  things  or  words,  we 
shall  be  fully  satisfied  in  this  part  of  our  case  ;  namely,  that 
the  two  records,  be  the  facts  contained  in  them  true  or 
false,  come  to  our  hands  from  independent  sources. 

Secondly,  I  say  that  the  epistle,  thus  proved  to  have 
been  written  without  any  communication  with  the  his- 
tory, bears  testimony  to  a  great  variety  of  particulars 
contained  in  the  history. 

1.  St.  Paul  in  the  early  part  of  his  life  had  addicted 
himself  to  the  study  of  the  Jewish  religion,  and  was  dis- 
tinguished by  his  zeal  for  the  institution,  and  for  the  tra- 
ditions which  had  been  incorporated  with  it.  Upon  this 
part  of  his  character  the  history  makes  St.  Paul  speak 
thus :  "  I  am  verily  a  man  which  am  a  Jew,  born  in  Tar- 
sus, a  city  of  Cilicia,  yet  brought  up  in  this  city  at  the  feet 
of  Gamaliel,  and  taught  according  to  the  perfect  manner 
of  the  law  of  the  fathers ;  and  was  zealous  towards  God, 
as  ye  all  are  this  day."     Acts,  chap.  xxii.  3. 

The  epistle  is  as  follows  :  "  I  profited  in  the  Jews'  relig- 
ion above  many  my  equals  in  mine  own  nation,  and  being 
more  exceedingly  zealous  of  the  traditions  of  my  fathers." 
Chap.  i.  14. 

2.  St.  Paul,  before  his  conversion,  had  been  a  fierce 
persecutor  of  the  new  sect.  "As  for  Saul,  he  made 
havoc  of  the  church  ;  entering  into  every  house,  and  haling 
men  and  women,  committed  them  to  prison."  Acts,  chap, 
viii.,  3. 


102  THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    GALATIANS. 

This  is  the  history  of  St.  Paul,  as  deUvered  in  the  Acts  : 
in  the  recital  of  his  own  history  in  the  epistle,  "  Ye  have 
heard,"  says  he,  "  of  my  conversation  in  times  past  in  the 
Jews'  religion,  how  that  beyond  measure  I  persecuted 
the  church  of  God."     Chap.  i.  13. 

3.  St.  Paul  was  miraculously  converted  on  his  way  to 
Damascus.  '*  And  as  he  journeyed  he  came  near  to  Da- 
mascus :  and  suddenly  there  shined  round  about  him  a 
light  from  heaven ;  and  he  fell  to  the  earth,  and  heard  a 
voice  saying  unto  him,  Saul,  Saul,  w^hy  persecutest  thou 
me  ?  And  he  said.  Who  art  thou.  Lord  ?  And  the  Lord 
said,  I  am  Jesus,  whom  thou  persecutest ;  it  is  hard  for 
thee  to  kick  against  the  pricks.  And  he,  trembling  and 
astonished,  said,  Lord,  what  wilt  thou  have  me  to  do  ? 
Acts,  chap.  ix.  3 — 6.  With  these,  compare  the  epistle, 
chap.  i.  15 — 17.  "When  it  pleased  God,  who  separated 
me  from  my  mother's  womb,  and  called  me  by  his  grace, 
to  reveal  his  Son  in  me,  that  I  might  preach  him  among 
the  heathen ;  immediately  I  conferred  not  with  flesh  and 
blood,  neither  went  I  up  to  Jerusalem,  to  them  that  were 
apostles  before  me ;  but  I  went  into  Arabia,  and  returned 
again  unto  Damascus." 

In  this  quotation  from  the  epistle,  I  desire  to  be  re- 
marked how  incidentally  it  appears  that  the  affair  passed 
at  Damascus.  In  what  may  be  called  the  direct  part  of 
the  account,  no  mention  is  made  of  the  place  of  his  con- 
version at  all :  a  casual  expression  at  the  end,  and  an  ex- 
pression brought  in  for  a  different  purpose,  alone  fixes  it 
to  have  been  at  Damascus :  "  I  returned  again  to  Da- 
mascus." Nothing  can  be  more  like  simplicity  and  unde- 
signedness  than  this  is.  It  also  draws  the  agreement  be- 
tween the  two  quotations  somewhat  closer,  to  observe 
that  they  both  state  St.  Paul  to  have  preached  the  Gos- 
pel immediately  upon   his  call :   "  And   straightway  he 


THE    EPISTI.E    TO    THE    GALATIANS,  103 

preached  Christ  in  the  synagogues,  that  he  is  the  Son  of 
God."  Acts,  chap.  ix.  20.  "When  it  pleased  God  to 
reveal  his  Son  in  me,  that  I  might  preach  him  among  the 
heathen,  immediately  I  conferred  not  with  flesh  and  blood." 
Gal.,  chap.  i.  15. 

4.  The  course  of  the  apostle's  travels  after  his  conver- 
sion was  this  :  He  went  from  Damascus  to  Jerusalem, 
and  from  Jerusalem  into  Syria  and  Cilicia.  "  At  Damas- 
cus the  disciples  took  him  by  night,  and  let  him  down  by 
the  wall  in  a  basket ;  and  when  Saul  was  come  to  Jeru- 
salem, he  assayed  to  join  himself  to  the  disciples."  Acts, 
chap.  ix.  25.  Afterwards,  "  when  the  brethren  knew 
the  conspiracy  formed  against  him  at  Jerusalem,  they 
brought  him  down  to  Csesarea,  and  sent  him  forth  to  Tar- 
sus, a  city  in  Cilicia."  Chap.  ix.  30.  In  the  epistle,  St. 
Paul  gives  the  following  brief  account  of  hi^  proceedings 
within  the  same  period  :  "  After  three  years  I  went  up  to 
Jerusalem  to  see  Peter,  and  abode  with  him  fifteen  days ; 
afterwards  I  came  into  the  regions  of  Syria  and  Cilicia." 
The  history  had  told  us  that  Paul  passed  from  Cassarea 
to  Tarsus  :  if  he  took  this  journey  by  land,  it  would  carry 
him  through  Syria  into  Cilicia ;  and  he  would  come,  after 
his  visit  to  Jerusalem,  "  into  the  regions  of  Syria  and 
Cilicia,"  in  the  very  order  in  which  he  mentions  them  in 
the  epistle.  This  supposition  of  his  going  from  Csesarea 
to  Tarsus,  by  land^  clears  up  also  another  point.  It  ac- 
counts for  what  St.  Paul  says  in  the  same  place  concern- 
ing the  churches  of  Judea :  "  Afterwards  I  came  into  the 
regions  of  Syria  and  Cilicia,  and  was  unknown  by  face 
unto  the  churches  of  Judea  which  were  in  Christ:  but 
they  had  heard  only  that  he  which  persecuted  us  in  times 
past  now  preacheth  the  faith  which  once  he  destroyed ; 
and  they  glorified  God  in  me."  Upon  which  passage  I 
observe,  first,  that  what  is  here  said  of  the  churches  of* 


104  THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    GALATIANS. 

Judea  is  spoken  in  connection  with  his  journey  into  the 
regions  of  Syria  and  Cilicia.  Secondly,  that  the  passage 
itself  has  little  significancy,  and  that  the  connection  is  in- 
explicable, unless  St.  Paul  went  through  Judea*  (though 
probably  by  a  hasty  journey)  at  the  time  that  he  came 
into  the  regions  of  Syria  and  Cilicia.  Suppose  him  to 
have  passed  by  land  from  Ca3sarea  to  Tarsus,  all  this,  as 
hath  been  observed,  would  be  precisely  true. 

5.  Barnabas  was  with  St.  Paul  at  Antioch.  "  Then 
departed  Barnabas  to  Tarsus,  for  to  seek  Saul ;  and,  when 
he  had  found  him,  he  brought  him  unto  Antioch.  And  it 
came  to  pass,  that  a  whole  year  they  assembled  them- 
selves with  the  church."  Acts,  chap.  ix.  25,  26.  Again, 
and  upon  another  occasion,  "they  (Paul  and  Barnabas) 
sailed  to  Antioch :  and  there  they  continued  a  long  time 
with  the  disciples."     Chap.  xiv.  26. 

Now  what  says  the  epistle  ?  "  When  Peter  was  come 
to  Antioch,  I  withstood  him  to  the  face,  because  he  was 
to  be  blamed :  and  the  other  Jews  dissembled  likewise 
with  him  ;  insomuch  that  Barnabas  also  was  carried  away 
with  their  dissimulation."     Chap.  ii.  11,  13. 

6.  The  stated  residence  of  the  apostles  was  at  Jerusa- 
lem. *'  At  that  time  there  was  a  great  persecution  against 
the  church  which  was  at  Jerusalem  ;  and  they  were  all 
scattered  abroad  throughout  the  regions  of  Judea  and 
Samaria,  except  the  apostles.  Acts,  chap.  viii.  1.  "  They 
(the  Christians  at  Antioch)  determined  that  Paul  and 
Barnabas  should  go  up  to  Jerusalem,  unto  the  apostles 
and  elders,  about  this  question."      Acts,  chapter  xv.   2. 

*  Dr.  Doddridge  thought  that  the  Csesarea  here  mentioned  was  not  the 
celebrated  city  of  that  name  upon  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  but  Caesarea 
Philippi,  near  the  borders  of  Syria,  which  Ues  in  a  much  more  direct  line 
from  Jerusalem  to  Tarsus  than  the  other.  The  objection  to  this,  Dr.  Ben- 
son remarks,  is,  that  Caesarea,  without  any  addition,  usually  denotes  Caesa- 
rea Palestinae. 


THE    EPISTLE    TO     THE     GALATIANS.  105 

With  these  accounts  agrees  the  declaration  in  the  epistle : 
"  Neither  went  I  up  to  Jerusalem  to  them  which  were 
apostles  before  me,"  chap.  i.  17  :  for  this  declaration  im- 
plies, or  rather  assumes  it  to  be  known,  that  Jerusalem 
was  the  place  where  the  apostles  were  to  be  met  with. 

7.  There  were  at  Jerusalem  two  apostles,  or  at  the 
least  two  eminent  members  of  the  church,  of  the  name  of 
James.  This  is  directly  inferred  from  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles,  which  in  the  second  verse  of  the  twelfth  chap- 
ter relates  the  death  of  James,  the  brother  of  John  ;  and 
yet,  in  the  fifteenth  chapter,  and  in  a  subsequent  part  of 
the  history,  records  a  speech  delivered  by  James  in  the 
assembly  of  the  apostles  and  elders.  It  is  also  strongly 
implied  by  the  form  of  expression  used  in  the  epistle  : 
"  Other  apostles  saw  I  none,  save  James,  the  Lord's 
brother ;  i.  e.  to  distinguish  him  from  James  the  brother 
of  John. 

To  us  who  have  been  long  conversant  in  the  Christian 
history,  as  contained  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  these 
points  are  obvious  and  familiar ;  nor  do  we  really  appre- 
hend any  greater  difficulty  in  making  them  appear  in  a 
letter  purporting  to  have  been  written  by  St.  Paul,  than 
there  is  in  introducing  them  into  a  modern  sermon.  But, 
to  judge  correctly  of  the  argument  before  us,  we  must 
discharge  this  knowledge  from  our  thoughts.  We  must 
propose  to  ourselves  the  situation  of  an  author  who  sat 
down  to  the  writing  of  the  epistle  without  having  seen 
the  history ;  and  then  the  concurrences  we  have  deduced 
will  be  deemed  of  importance.  They  will  at  least  be 
taken  for  separate  confirmations  of  the  several  facts,  and 
not  only  of  these  particular  facts,  but  of  the  general  truth 
of  the  history. 

For,  what  is  the  rule  with  respect  to  con'oborative 
testimony  which  prevails  in  courts  of  justice,  and  which 

5* 


106  THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    GALATIANS. 

prevails  only  because  experience  Has  proved  that  it  is  a 
useful  guide  to  truth?  A  principal  witness  in  a  cause 
delivers  his  account :  his  narrative,  in  certain  parts  of  it, 
is  confirmed  by  witnesses  who  are  called  afterwards. 
The  credit  derived  from  their  testimony  belongs  not  only 
to  the  particular  circumstances  in  which  the  auxiliary 
witnesses  agree  with  the  principal  witness,  but  in  some 
measure  to  the  whole  of  his  evidence  ;  because  it  is  im- 
probable that  accident  or  fiction  should  draw  a  line 
which  touched  upon  truth  in  so  many  points. 

In  like  manner,  if  two  records  be  produced,  manifestly 
independent,  that  is,  manifestly  written  without  any  par- 
ticipation of  intelligence,  an  agreement  between  them, 
even  in  few  and  slight  circumstances,  (especially  if,  from 
the  different  nature  and  design  of  the  writings,  few  points 
only  of  agreement,  and  those  incidental,  could  be  ex- 
pected to  occur),  would  add  a  sensible  weight  to  the  au- 
thority of  both,  in  every  part  of  their  contents. 

The  same  rule  is  applicable  to  history,  with  at  least  as 
much  reason  as  any  other  species  of  evidence. 


No.  III. 

But,  although  the  references  to  various  particulars  in 
the  epistle,  compared  with  the  direct  account  of  the  same 
particulars  in  the  history,  afford  a  considerable  proof  of 
the  truth,  not  only  of  these  particulars  but  of  the  narra- 
tive which  contains  them ;  yet  they  do  not  show,  it  will 
be  said,  that  the  epistle  was  written  by  St.  Paul :  for,  ad- 
mitting (what  seems  to  have  been  proved)  that  the  writer, 
whoever  he  was,  had  no  recourse  to  the  Acts  of  the  Apos- 
tles, yet  many  of  the  facts  referred  to,  such  as  St.  Paul's 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    GALATIANS.  107 

miraculous  conversion,  his  change  from  a  virulent  perse- 
cutor to  an  indefatigable  preacher,  his  labors  amongst 
the  Gentiles,  and  his  zeal  for  the  liberties  of  the  Gentile 
church,  were  so  notorious  as  to  occur  readily  to  the  mind 
of  any  Christian  who  should  choose  to  personate  his  char- 
acter, and  counterfeit  his  name ;  it  w^as  only  to  write 
what  every-body  knew.  Now  I  think  that  this  supposi- 
tion— viz.  that  the  epistle  was  composed  upon  general  in- 
formation, and  the  general  publicity  of  the  facts  alluded 
to,  and  that  the  author  did  no  more  than  weave  into  his 
work  what  the  common  fame  of  the  Christian  church  had 
reported  to  his  ears — is  repelled  by  the  particularity  of 
the  recitals  and  references.  This  particularity  is  ob- 
servable in  the  following  instances  ;  in  perusing  which,  I 
desire  the  reader  to  reflect,  whether  they  exhibit  the 
language  of  a  man  who  had  nothing  but  general  reputa- 
tion to  proceed  upon,  or  of  a  man  actually  speaking  of 
himself  and  of  his  own  history,  and  consequently  of  things 
concerning  which  he  possessed  a  clear,  intimate,  and  cir- 
cumstantial knowledge. 

1.  The  history,  in  giving  an  account  of  St.  Paul  after 
his  conversion,  relates  "  that,  after  many  days,"  effecting, 
by  the  assistance  of  the  disciples,  his  escape  from  Damas- 
cus, "  he  proceeded  to  Jerusalem/'  Acts,  chap.  ix.  25. 
The  epistle,  speaking  of  the  same  period,  makes  St.  Paul 
say  that  '*  he  went  into  Arabia,"  that  he  returned  again 
to  Damascus,  that  after  three  years  he  went  up  to  Jeru- 
salem.    Chap.  i.  17,  18. 

2.  The  history  relates  that,  when  Saul  was  come  from 
Damascus,  "  he  was  with  the  disciples  coming  in  and  go- 
ing out."  Acts,  chap.  ix.  28.  The  epistle,  describing  the 
same  journey,  tells  us  "  that  he  went  up  to  Jerusalem  to 
see  Peter,  and  abode  with  him  fifteen  days."     Chap.  i.  18. 

3.  The  history  relates  that,  when   Paul   was  come  to 


108  THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    GALATIAN8. 

Jerusalem,  "  Barnabas  took  him  and  brought  him  to  the 
apostles."  Acts,  chap.  ix.  27.  The  epistle,  "that  he 
saw  Peter ;  but  other  of  the  apostles  saw  he  none,  save 
James,  the  Lord's  brother."     Chap.  i.  19. 

Now  this  is  as  it  should  be.  The  historian  delivers  his 
account  in  general  terms,  as  of  facts  to  which  he  was  not 
present.  The  person  who  is  the  subject  of  that  account, 
when  he  comes  to  speak  of  these  facts  himself,  particu- 
larizes time,  names,  and  circumstances. 

4.  The  like  notation  of  places,  persons,  and  dates,  is 
met  with  in  the  account  of  St.  Paul's  journey  to  Jerusa- 
lem, given  in  the  second  chapter  of  the  epistle.  It  was 
fourteen  years  after  his  conversion ;  it  was  in  company 
with  Barnabas  and  Titus ;  it  was  then  that  he  met  with 
James,  Cephas,  and  John ;  it  was  then  also  that  it  was 
agreed  amongst  them  that  they  should  go  to  the  circum- 
cision, and  he  unto  the  Gentiles. 

5.  The  dispute  with  Peter,  which  occupies  the  sequel 
of  the  second  chapter,  is  marked  with  the  same  particu- 
larity. It  was  at  Antioch ;  it  was  after  certain  came 
from  James ;  it  was  whilst  Barnabas  was  there,  who  was 
carried  away  by  their  dissimulation.  These  examples 
negative  the  insinuation  that  the  epistle  presents  nothing 
but  indefinite  allusions  to  public  facts. 


No.  IV. 

Chap.  iv.  11 — 16.  "I  am  afraid  of  you,  lest  I  have  be- 
stowed upon  you  labor  in  vain.  Brethren,  I  beseech  you, 
be  as  I  am,  for  I  am  as  ye  are.  Ye  have  not  injured  me 
at  all.  Ye  know  how,  through  the  infirmity  of  the  flesh,  I 
preached  the  Gospel  unto  you  at  the  first ;  and  my  temp- 
tation, luhich  was  in  the  Jlssh,  ye  despised   not,  nor  re- 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    GALATIANS.  109 

jected  ;  but  received  me  as  an  angel  of  God,  even  as 
Christ  Jesus.  Where  is  then  the  blessedness  you  spake 
of?  for  I  bear  you  record  that,  if  it  had  been  possible,  ye 
would  have  plucked  out  your  own  eyes,  and  have  given 
them  unto  me.  Am  I  therefore  become  your  enemy,  be- 
cause I  tell  you  the  truth  ?" 

With  this  passage  compare  2  Cor.  chap,  xii.,  1 — 9 : 
*'  It  is  not  expedient  for  me,  doubtless,  to  glory ;  I  will 
come  to  visions  and  revelations  of  the  Lord.  I  knew  a 
man  in  Christ  above  fourteen  years  ago  (whether  in  the 
body  I  cannot  tell,  or  whether  out  of  the  body  I  cannot 
tell ;  God  knoweth) ;  such  a  one  was  caught  up  to  the 
third  heaven;  and€  knew  such  a  man  (whether  in  the 
body  or  out  of  the  body  I  cannot  tell ;  God  knoweth), 
how  that  he  was  caught  up  into  Paradise,  and  heard  un- 
speakable words,  which  it  is  not  lawful  for  a  man  to  utter. 
Of  such  a  one  will  I  glory,  yet  of  myself  will  I  not  glory, 
but  in  mine  infirmities :  for  though  I  would  desire  to 
glory,  I  shall  not  be  a  fool ;  for  I  will  say  the  truth.  But 
now  I  forbear,  lest  any  man  should  think  of  me  above 
that  which  he  seeth  me  to  be,  or  that  he  heareth  of  me. 
And,  lest  I  should  be  exalted  above  measure,  through 
the  abundance  of  the  revelations,  there  was  given  to  me 
a  thorn  in  the  flesh,  the  messenger  of  Satan  to  buffet  me, 
lest  I  should  be  exalted  above  measure.  For  this  thing 
I  besought  the  Lord  thrice,  that  it  might  depart  from  me. 
And  he  said  unto  me.  My  grace  is  sufficient  for  thee  ;  for 
my  strength  is  made  perfect  in  weakness.  Most  gladly 
therefore  will  I  rather  glory  in  my  infirmities,  that  the 
power  of  Christ  may  rest  upon  me." 

There  can  be  no  doubt  but  that  the  '*  temptation  which 
was  in  the  flesh,"  mentioned  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Gala- 
tians,  and  "  the  thorn  in  the  flesh,  the  messenger  of  Satan 
to  bufiet  him,"  mentioned  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Corinthi- 


110  THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    GALATIANS. 

ans,  were  intended  to  denote  the  same  thing.  Either, 
therefore,  it  was,  what  we  pretend  it  to  have  been,  the 
same  person  in  both,  alluding,  as  the  occasion  led  him,  to 
some  bodily  infirmity  under  which  he  labored  ;  that  is, 
we  are  reading  the  real  letters  of  a  real  apostle ;  or  it 
was  that  a  sophist,  who  had  seen  the  circumstance  in  one 
epistle,  contrived,  for  the  sake  of  correspondency,  to  bring 
it  into  another ;  or,  lastly,  it  was  a  circumstance  in  St. 
Paul's  personal  condition,  supposed  to  be  well  known  to 
those  into  whose  hands  the  epistle  was  likely  to  fall ;  and, 
for  that  reason,  introduced  into  a  writing  designed  to 
bear  his  name.  I  have  extracted  the  quotations  at  length, 
in  order  to  enable  the  reader  to  jud^  accurately  of  the 
manner  in  which  the  mention  of  this  particular  comes  in, 
in  each  ;  because  that  judgment,  I  think,  will  acquit  the 
author  of  the  epistle  of  the  charge  of  having  studiously 
inserted  it,  either  with  a  view  of  producing  an  apparent 
agreement  between  them,  or  for  any  other  purpose  what- 
ever. 

The  context  by  which  the  circumstance  before  us  is 
introduced  is  in  two  places  totally  different,  and  without 
any  mark  of  imitation ;  yet  in  both  places  does  the  cir- 
cumstance rise  aptly  and  naturally  out  of  the  context, 
and  that  context  from  the  train  of  thought  carried  on  in 
the  epistle. 

The  Epistle  to  the  Galatians,  from  the  beginning  to  the 
end,  runs  in  a  strain  of  angry  complaint  of  their  defection 
from  the  apostle,  and  from  the  principles  which  he  had 
taught  them.  It  was  very  natural  to  contrast  with  this 
conduct  the  zeal  with  which  they  had  once  received  him  ; 
and  it  was  not  less  so  to  mention,  as  a  proof  of  their  former 
disposition  towards  him,  the  indulgence  which,  whilst  he 
was  amongst  them,  they  had  shown  to  his  infirmity  :  "My 
temptation  which  was  in  the   flesh  ye  despised   not  nor 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    GALATIANS.  Ill 

rejected,  but  received  me  as  an  angel  of  God,  even  as 
Christ  Jesus.  Where  is  then  the  blessedness  ye  spake 
of,"  i.  e.  the  benedictions  which  you  bestowed  upon  me  ? 
•'  for  I  bear  you  record  that,  if  it  had  been  possible,  ye 
would  have  plucked  out  your  own  eyes,  and  have  given 
them  to  me." 

In  the  two  epistles  to  the  Corinthians,  especially  in  the 
second,  we  have  the  apostle  contending  with  certain 
teachers  in  Corinth  who  had  formed  a  party  in  that  church 
against  him.  To  vindicate  his  personal  authority,  as 
well  as  the  dignity  and  credit  of  his  ministry  amongst 
them,  he  takes  occasion  (but  not  without  apologizing  re- 
peatedly for  the  folly,  that  is,  for  the  indecorum,  of  pro- 
nouncing his  own  panegyric)*  to  meet  his  adversaries 
in  their  boastings  :  "  Whereinsoever  any  is  bold  (I  speak 
foolishly)  I  am  bold  also.  Are  they  Hebrews  ?  so  am  I. 
Are  they  Israelites  ?  so  am  I.  Are  they  the  seed  of 
Abraham  ?  so  am  I.  Are  they  the  ministers  of  Christ  ? 
I  speak  as  a  fool, — I  am  more ;  in  labors  more  abundant, 
in  stripes  above  measure,  in  prisons  more  frequent,  in 
deaths  oft."  Being  led  to  the  subject,  he  goes  on,  as  was 
natural,  to  recount  his  trials  and  dangers,  his  incessant 
cares  and  labors  in  the  Christian  mission.  From  the 
proofs  which  he  had  given  of  his  zeal  and  activity  in  the 
service  of  Christ,  he  passes  (and  that  with  the  same 
view  of  establishing  his  claim  to  be  considered  as  "  not  a 
whit  behind  the  very  chiefest  of  the  apostles")  to  the 
visions  and  revelations  which  from  time  to  time  had  been 
vouchsafed  to  him.     And  then,  by  a  close  and  easy  con- 

*  "  Would  to  God  you  would  bear  with  me  a  little  in  my  folly,  and  indeed 
bear  with  me  !"     Chap.  xi.  1. 

"  That  which  I  speak,  I  speak  it  not  after  the  Lord,  but  as  it  were  fool- 
ishly, in  this  confidence  of  boasting."     Chap.  xi.  17. 

"  I  am  become  a  fool  in  glorying,  ye  have  compelled  me."     Chap.  xii.  11. 


112  THE      EPISTLE    TO    THE    GALATIANS. 

nection,  comes  in  the  mention  of  his  infirmity  :  ''  Lest  1 
should  be  exalted,"  says  he,  "  above  measure,  through  the 
abundance  of  revelations,  there  was  given  to  me  a  thorn 
in  the  flesh,  the  messenger  of  Satan  to  buffet  me." 

Thus,  then,  in  both  epistles,  the  notice  of  his  infirmity 
is  suited  to  the  place  in  vi^hich  it  is  found.  In  the  Epistle 
to  the  Corinthians,  the  train  of  thought  drav^^s  up  to  the 
circumstance  by  a  regular  approximation.  In  this  epis- 
tle, it  is  suggested  by  the  subject  and  occasion  of  the  epis- 
tle itself.  Which  observation  we  offer  as  an  argument 
to  prove  that  it  is  not,  in  either  epistle,  a  circumstance 
industriously  brought  forward  for  the  sake  of  procuring 
credit  to  an  imposture. 

A  reader  will  be  taught  to  perceive  the  force  of  this 
argument,  who  shall  attempt  to  introduce  a  given  circum- 
stance into  the  body  of  a  writing.  To  do  this  without 
abruptness,  or  without  betraying  marks  of  design  in  the 
transition,  requires,  he  will  find,  more  art  than  he  ex- 
pected to  be  necessary,  certainly  more  than  any  one  can 
believe  to  have  been  exercised  in  the  composition  of 
these  epistles. 


No.  V. 

Chap.  iv.  29.  "  But  as  then  he  that  was  born  after 
the  flesh  persecuted  him  that  was  born  after  the  Spirit, 
even  so  it  is  now." 

Chap.  V.  11.  "And  I,  brethren,  if  I  yet  preach  cir- 
cumcision, why  do  I  yet  sufler  persecution  ?  Then  is  the 
oflfence  of  the  cross  ceased." 

Chap.  vi.  17.  "  From  henceforth,  let  no  man  trouble 
me,  for  I  bear  in  my  body  the  marks  of  the  Lord  Jesus." 

From  these  several  texts  it  is  apparent  that  the  perse- 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    GALATIANS.  113 

cutions  which  our  apostle  had  undergone  were  from  the 
hands,  or  by  the  instigation,  of  the  Jews ;  that  it  was  not 
for  preaching  Christianity  in  opposition  to  heathenism, 
but  it  was  for  preaching  it  as  distinct  from  Judaism,  that 
he  had  brought  upon  himself  the  sufferings  which  had  at- 
tended his  ministry.  And  this  representation  perfectly 
coincides  with  that  which  results  from  the  detail  of  St. 
Paul's  history,  as  delivered  in  the  Acts.  At  Antioch,  in 
Pisidia,  "the  word  of  the  Lord  was  published  throughout 
all  the  region ;  but  the  Jews  stirred  up  the  devout  and 
honorable  women  and  the  chief  men  of  the  city,  and 
raised  persecution  against  Paul  and  Barnabas,  and  expel- 
led them  out  of  their  coasts" — Acts,  chap.  xiii.  50.  Not 
long  after,  at  Iconium,  *'a  great  multitude  of  the  Jews 
and  also  of  the  Greeks  believed,  but  the  unbelieving  Jews 
stirred  up  the  Gentiles,  and  made  their  minds  evil  affect- 
ed against  the  brethren."  Chap.  xiv.  1,  2.  "At  Lystra 
there  came  certain  Jews  from  Antioch  and  Iconium,  who 
persuaded  the  people  ;  and,  having  stoned  Paul  drew  him 
out  of  the  city,  supposing  he  had  been  dead."  Chap.  xiv. 
19.  The  same  enmity,  and  from  the  same  quarter,  our 
apostle  experienced  in  Greece :  "  At  Thessalonica,  some 
of  them  (the  Jews)  believed,  and  consorted  with  Paul  and 
Silas :  and  of  the  devout  Greeks  a  great  multitude,  and 
of  the  chief  women  not  a  few :  but  the  Jews  which  be- 
lieved not,  moved  with  envy,  took  unto  them  certain  lewd 
fellows  of  the  basert  sort,  and  gathered  a  company,  and 
set  all  the  city  in  an  uproar,  and  assaulted  the  house  of 
Jason,  and  sought  to  bring  them  out  to  the  people."  Acts, 
chap.  xvii.  4,  5.  Their  persecutors  follow  them  to  Berea  : 
*'  When  the  Jews  of  Thessalonica  had  knowledge  that  the 
word  of  God  was  preached  of  Paul  at  Berea,  they  came 
thither  also,  and  stirred  up  the  people."  Chap.  xvii.  13. 
And  lastly  at  Corinth,  when  Gallio  was  deputy  of  Achaia, 


114  THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    GALATIANS. 

"  the  Jews  made  insurrection  with  one  accord  against 
Paul,  and  brought  him  to  the  judgment  sea."  I  think  it 
does  not  appear  that  our  apostle  was  ever  set  upon  by 
the  Gentiles,  unless  they  were  first  stin-ed  up  by  the 
Jews,  except  in  two  instances ;  ia  both  which  the  persons 
who  began  the  assault  were  immediately  interested  in  his 
expulsion  from  the  place.  Once  this  happened  at  Phi- 
lippi,  after  the  cure  of  the  Pythoness :  "  When  the  mas- 
ters saw  the  hope  of  their  gains  was  gone,  they  caught 
Paul  and  Silas,  and  drew  them  into  the  market-place 
unto  the  rulers."  Chap.  xvi.  19.  And  a  second  time  at 
Ephesus,  at  the  instance  of  Demetrius,  a  silversmith, 
which  made  silver  shrines  for  Diana,  "  who  called  to- 
gether workmen  of  like  occupation,  and  said,  Sirs,  ye 
know  that  by  this  craft  we  have  our  wealth  ;  moreover  ye 
see  and  hear  that  not  only  at  Ephesus,  but  almost  through- 
out all  Asia,  this  Paul  hath  persuaded  away  much  people, 
saying  that  they  be  no  gods  which  are  made  with  hands ; 
so  that  not  only  this  craft  is  in  danger  to  be  set  at  nought, 
but  also  that  the  temple  of  the  great  goddess  Diana 
should  be  despised,  and  her  magnificence  should  be  de- 
stroyed, whom  all  Asia  and  the  world  worshippeth." 


No.  VI. 

I  observe  an  agreement  in  a  somewhat  peculiar  rule  of 
Christian  conduct,  as  laid  down  in  this  epistle,  and  as  ex- 
emplified in  the  Second  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians.  It  is 
not  the  repetition  of  the  same  general  precept,  which 
would  have  been  a  coincidence  of  little  value ;  but  it  is 
the  general  precept  in  one  place,  and  the  application  of 
that  precept  to  an  actual  occurrence  in  the  other.  In  the 
sixth  chapter  and  first  verse  of  this  epistle,  our  apostle 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    GALATIANS.  115 

gives  the  following  direction:  "Brethren,  if  a  man  be 
overtaken  in  a  fault,  ye,  which  are  spiritual,  restore  such 
a  one  in  the  spirit  of  meekness."  In  2  Cor.,  chap.  ii. 
G — 8,  he  writes  thus :  "  Sufficient  to  such  a  man"  (the  in- 
cestuous person  mentioned  in  the  First  Epistle)  "  is  this 
punishment,  which  was  inflicted  of  many  :  so  that,  con- 
trariwise, ye  ought  rather  to  forgive  him  and  comfort 
him,  lest,  perhaps,  such  a  one  should  be  swallowed  up 
with  over-much  sorrow:  wherefore  1  beseech  you  that 
ye  would  confirm  your  love  towards  him."  I  have  fttj^l^' 
doubt  but  that  it  was  the  same  mind  which  dictated  these 
two  passages. 


No.   VII. 

Our  epistle  goes  farther  than  any  of  St.  Paul's  epistles ; 
for  it  avows,  in  direct  terms,  the  supersession  of  the  Jew- 
ish law,  as  an  instrument  of  salvation,  even  to  the  Jews 
themselves.  Not  only  were  the  Gentiles  exempt  from 
its  authority,  but  even  the  Jews  were  no  longer  either  to 
place  any  dependency  upon  it,  or  consider  themselves  as 
subject  to  it  on  a  religious  account.  "  Before  faith  came, 
we  were  kept  under  the  law,  shut  up  unto  the  faith  which 
should  afterwards  be  revealed ;  wherefore  the  law  was 
our  schoolmaster  to  bring  us  unto  Christ,  that  we  might 
be  justified  by  faith ;  but,  after  that  faith  is  come,  we  are 
no  longer  under  a  schoolmaster ^  Chap.  iii.  23-^25. 
This  was  undoubtedly  spoken  of  Jews,  and  to  Jews.  In 
like  manner,  chap.  iv.  1 — 5.  "  Now,  I  say  that  the  heir, 
as  long  as  he  is  a  child,  differeth  nothing  from  a  servant, 
though  he  be  lord  of  all ;  but  is  under  tutors  and  gov- 
ernors until  the  time  appointed  of  the  father :  even  so  we, 
when  we  were  children,  were  in  bondage  under  the  ele- 


116  THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    GALATIANS. 

ments  of  the  world ;  but,  when  the  fulness  of  time  was 
come,  God  sent  forth  his  Son,  made  of  a  woman,  made 
under  the  law,  to  redeem  them  that  were  under  the  law, 
that  we  might  receive  the  adoption  of  sons."  These  pas- 
sages are  nothing  short  of  a  declaration  that  the  obliga- 
tion of  the  Jewish  law,  considered  as  a  religious  dispen- 
sation, the  effects  of  which  were  to  take  place  in  another 
life,  had  ceased,  with  respect  even  to  the  Jews  them- 
selves. What  then  should  be  the  conduct  of  a  Jew  (for 
such  St.  Paul  was)  who  preached  this  doctrine  ?  To  be 
consistent  with  himself,  either  he  would  no  longer  comply, 
in  his  own  person,  with  the  directions  of  the  law  ;  or,  if 
he  did  comply,  it  would  be  for  some  other  reason  than 
any  confidence  which  he  placed  in  its  efficacy  as  a  relig- 
ious institution.  Now,  so  it  happens  that,  whenever  St. 
Paul's  compliance  with  the  Jewish  law  is  mentioned  in 
the  history,  it  is  mentioned  in  connection  with  circum- 
stances which  point  out  the  motive  from  which  it  pro- 
ceeded ;  and  this  motive  appears  to  have  been  always 
exoteric,  namely,  a  love  of  order  and  tranquillity,  or  an 
unwillingness  to  give  unnecessary  offence.  Thus,  Acts, 
chap.  xvi.  3,  "  Him  (Timothy)  would  Paul  have  to  go 
forth  with  him,  and  took  and  circumcised  him  because  of 
the  Jews  which  were  in  those  quarters^  Again,  Acts, 
chap.  xxi.  26,  when  Paul  consented  to  exhibit  an  exam- 
ple of  public  compliance  of  a  Jewish  rite  by  purifying 
himself  in  the  temple,  it  is  plainly  intimated  that  he  did 
this*  to  satisfy  *'  many  thousands  of  Jews  who  believed, 
and  who  were  all  zealous  of  the  law."  So  far  the  in- 
stances related  in  one  book  correspond  with  the  doctrine 
delivered  in  another. 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    GALATIANS.  117 

No.    VIII. 

Chap.  i.  18.  "  Then,  after  three  years,  I  went  up  to 
Jerusalem  to  see  Peter,  and  abode  with  him  fifteen  days." 

The  shortness  of  St.  PauFs  stay  at  Jerusalem  is  what  I 
desire  the  reader  to  remark.  The  direct  account  of  the 
same  journey  in  the  Acts,  chap.  ix.  28,  determines  no- 
thing concerning  the  time  of  his  continuance  there  :  "  And 
he  was  with  them  (the  apostles)  coming  in,  and  going 
out,  at  Jerusalem  ;  and  he  spake  boldly  in  the  name  of 
the  Lord  Jesus,  and  disputed  against  the  Grecians :  but 
they  went  about  to  slay  him  ;  which,  when  the  brethren 
knew,  they  brought  him  down  to  Csesarea."  Or  rather, 
this  account,  taken  by  itself,  would  lead  a  reader  to  sup- 
pose that  St.  Paul's  abode  at  Jerusalem  had  been  longer 
than  fifteen  days.  But  turn  to  the  twenty-second  chap- 
ter of  the  Acts,  and  you  will  find  a  reference  to  this  visit 
to  Jerusalem,  which  plainly  indicates  that  Paul's  contin- 
uance in  that  city  had  been  of  short  duration :  "  And  it 
came  to  pass  that,  when  I  was  come  again  to  Jerusalem, 
even  while  I  prayed  in  the  temple,  I  was  in  a  trance,  and 
saw  him  saying  unto  me,  Make  haste,  get  thee  quickly  out 
of  Jerusalem,  for  they  will  not  receive  thy  testimony  con- 
cerning me."  Here  we  have  the  general  terms  of  one 
text  so  explained  by  a  distant  text  in  the  same  book  as 
to  bring  an  indeterminate  expression  into  a  close  con- 
formity with  a  specification  delivered  in  another  book  ;  a 
species  of  consistency  not,  I  think,  usually  found  in  fabu- 
lous relations. 

No.  IX. 

Chap.  vi.  11.  "  Ye  see  how  large  a  letter  I  have  writ- 
ten unto  you  with  mine  own  hand." 


118  THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    GALATIANS. 

These  words  imply  that  he  did  not  always  write  with 
his  own  hand ;  which  is  consonant  to  what  we  find  inti- 
mated in  some  other  of  the  epistles.  The  Epistle  to  the 
Romans  was  written  by  Tertius  :  "  I,  Tertius,  who  wrote 
this  epistle,  salute  you  in  the  Lord."  Chap.  xvi.  22. 
The  First  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  the  Epistle  to  the  Co- 
lossians,  and  the  Second  to  the  Thessalonians,  have  all, 
near  the  conclusion,  this  clause,  "  The  salutation  of  me, 
Paul,  with  mine  own  hand ;"  which  must  be  understood, 
and  is  universally  understood,  to  import  that  the  rest  of  the 
epistle  was  written  by  another  hand.  I  do  not  think  it 
improbable  that  an  impostor,  who  had  remarked  this  sub- 
scription in  some  other  epistle,  should  invent  the  same  in  a 
forgery ;  but  that  is  not  done  here.  The  author  of  this  epis- 
tle does  not  imitate  the  manner  of  giving  St.  Paul's  signa- 
ture ;  he  only  bids  the  Galatians  observe  how  large  a  let- 
ter he  had  written  to  them  with  his  own  hand.  He  does 
not  say  this  was  different  from  his  ordinary  usage ;  that 
is  left  to  implication.  Now,  to  suppose  that  this  was  an 
artifice  to  procure  credit  to  an  imposture,  is  to  suppose 
that  the  author  of  the  forgery,  because  he  knew  that 
others  of  St.  Paul's  were  not  written  by  himself,  there- 
fore made  the  apostle  say  that  this  was  :  which  seems  an 
odd  turn  to  give  to  the  circumstance,  and  to  be  given  for 
a  purpose  which  would  more  naturally  and  more  directly 
have  been  answered  by  subjoining  the  salutation  or  signa- 
ture in  the  form  in  which  it  is  found  in  other  epistles.* 

*  The  words  irrjXiKois  ypa^fiaaiv  may  probably  be  meant  to  describe  the 
character  in  which  he  wrote,  and  not  the  length  of  the  letter.  But  this 
will  not  alter  the  truth  of  our  observation.  I  think,  however,  that,  as  St. 
Paul,  by  the  mention  of  his  own  hand,  designed  to  express  to  the  Galatians 
the  great  concern  which  he  felt  for  them,  the  words,  whatever  they  signify, 
belong  to  the  whole  of  the  epistle  ;  and  not,  as  Grotius  after  St.  Jerome,  in- 
terprets it,  to  the  few  verses  which  follow. 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    GALATIANS.  119 


No.  X. 

An  exact  conformity  appears  in  the  manner  in  which 
a  certain  apostle  or  eminent  Christian,  whose  name  was 
James,  is  spoken  of  in  the  epistle  and  in  the  history.  Both 
writings  refer  to  a  situation  of  his  at  Jerusalem,  some- 
what different  from  that  of  the  other  apostles  ;  a  kind  of 
eminence  or  presidency  in  the  church  there,  or  at  least 
a  more  fixed  and  stationary  residence.  Chap.  li.  12. 
"  When  Peter  was  at  Antioch,  before  that  certain  came 
from  James,  he  did  eat  with  the  Gentiles."  This  text 
plainly  attributes  a  kind  of  pre-eminency  to  James ;  and, 
as  we  hear  of  him  twice  in  the  same  epistle  dwelling  at 
Jerusalem,  chap.  i.  19,  and  ii.  9,  we  must  apply  it  to  the 
situation  which  he  held  in  that  church.  In  the  Acts  of 
the  Apostles  divers  intimations  occur,  conveying  the  same 
idea  of  James's  situation.  When  Peter  was  miraculously 
delivered  from  prison,  and  had  surprised  his  friends  by 
his  appearance  among  them,  after  declaring  unto  them 
how  the  Lord  had  brought  him  out  of  prison ;  "  Go, 
show,"  says  he,  "these  things  unto  James,  and  to  the 
brethren."  Acts,  chap.  xii.  17.  Here  James  is  mani- 
festly spoken  of  in  terms  of  distinction.  He  appears 
again  with  like  distinction  in  the  twenty-first  chapter  and 
the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  verses :  "  And  when  we 
(Paul  and  his  company)  were  come  to  Jerusalem,  the  day 
following,  Paul  went  in  with  us  unto  James,  and  all  the 
elders  were  present."  In  the  debate  which  took  place 
upon  the  business  of  the  Gentile  converts,  in  the  council 
at  Jerusalem,  this  same  person  seems  to  have  taken  the 
lead.  It  was  he  who  closed  the  debate,  and  proposed 
the  resolution  in  which  the  council  ultimately  concurred : 


120  THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    GALATIANS. 

"Wherefore  my  sentence  is,  that  we  trouble  not  them 
which  from  among  the  Gentiles  are  turned  to  God." 

Upon  the  whole,  that  there  exists  a  conformity  in  the 
expressions  used  concerning  James^  throughout  the  his- 
tory, and  in  the  epistle,  is  unquestionable.  But,  admitting 
this  conformity,  and  admitting  also  the  undesignedness 
of  it,  what  does  it  prove?  It  proves  that  the  circum- 
stance itself  is  founded  in  truth  ;  that  is,  that  James  was  a 
real  person,  who  held  a  situation  of  eminence  in  a  real 
society  of  Christians  at  Jerusalem.  It  confirms  also  those 
parts  of  the  narrative  which  are  connected  with  this  cir- 
cumstance. Suppose,  for  instance,  the  truth  of  the  ac- 
count of  Peter's  escape  from  prison  was  to  be  tried  upon 
the  testimony  of  a  witness,  who,  among  other  things, 
made  Peter,  after  his  deliverance,  say,  *'  Go,  show  these 
things  to  James,  and  to  the  brethren ;"  would  it  not  be 
material,  in  such  a  trial,  to  make  out  by  other  indepen- 
dent proofs,  or  by  a  comparison  of  proofs,  drawn  from 
independent  sources,  that  there  was  actually  at  that  time, 
living  at  Jerusalem,  such  a  person  as  James ;  that  this 
person  held  such  a  situation,  in  the  society  amongst  whom 
these  things  were  transacted,  as  to  render  the  words 
which  Peter  is  said  to  have  used  concerning  him  proper 
and  natural  for  him  to  have  used  ?  If  this  would  be  per- 
tinent in  the  discussion  of  oral  testimony,  it  is  still  more 
so  in  appreciating  the  credit  of  remote  history. 

It  must  not  be  dissembled  that  the  comparison  of  our 
epistle  with  the  history  presents  some  difficulties,  or,  to 
say  the  least,  some  questions  of  considerable  magnitude. 
It  may  be  doubted,  in  the  first  place,  to  what  journey  the 
words  which  open  the  second  chapter  of  the  epistle,  "  then, 
fourteen  years  afterwards,  I  w^ent  unto  Jerusalem,"  relate. 
That  which  best  corresponds  with  the  date,  and  that  to 
which  most  interpreters  apply  the  passage,  is  the  journey 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    GALATIANS.  121 

of  Paul  and  Barnabas  to  Jerusalem,  when  they  went 
thither  from  Antioch,  upon  the  business  of  the  Gentile 
converts  ;  and  which  journey  produced  the  famous  coun- 
cil and  decree  recorded  in  the  fifteenth  chapter  of  Acts. 
To  me  this  opinion  appears  to  be  encumbered  with  strong 
objections.  In  the  epistle,  Paul  tells  us  that  "  he  went  up 
by  revelation."  Chap.  ii.  2. — In  the  Acts,  we  read  that 
he  was  sent  by  the  church  of  Antioch :  "  After  no  small 
dissension  and  disputation,  they  determined  that  Paul  and 
Barnabas,  and  certain  other  of  them,  should  go  up  to  the 
apostles  and  elders  about  this  question."  Acts,  chap.  xv. 
2.  This  is  not  very  reconcileable.  In  the  epistle,  St. 
Paul  writes  that,  when  he  came  to  Jerusalem,  *'he  com- 
municated that  Gospel  which  he  preached  among  the 
Gentiles,  but  privately  to  them  which  were  of  reputation." 
Chap.  ii.  2.  If  by  •'  that  Gospel"  he  meant  the  immunity 
of  the  Gentile  Christians  from  the  Jewish  law  (and  I  know 
not  what  else  it  can  mean),  it  is  not  easy  to  conceive  how 
he  should  communicate  that  privately  which  was  the  ob- 
ject of  his  public  message.  But  a  yet  greater  difficulty 
remains,  viz.  that,  in  the  account  which  the  epistle  gives 
of  what  passed  upon  this  visit  at  Jerusalem,  no  notice  is 
taken  of  the  deliberation  and  decree  which  are  recorded 
in  the  Acts,  and  whicJi,  according  to  that  history,  formed 
the  business  for  the  sake  of  which  the  journey  was  under- 
taken. The  mention  of  the  council  and  of  its  determina- 
tion, whilst  the  apostle  was  relating  his  proceedings  at 
Jerusalem,  could  hardly  have  been  avoided,  if  in  truth 
the  narrative  belong  to  the  same  journey.  To  me  it  ap- 
pears more  probable  that  Paul  and  Barnabas  had  taken 
some  journey  to  Jerusalem,  the  mention  of  which  is 
omitted  in  the  Acts.  Prior  to  the  apostolic  decree,  we 
read  that  "  Paul  and  Barnabas  abode  at  Antioch  a  long 
time  with  the  disciples.     Acts,  chap.  xiv.  28.     Is  it  un- 

6 


122  THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    GALATIANS. 

likely  that,  during  this  long  abode,  they  might  go  up  to 
Jerusalem  and  return  to  Antioch?  Or  would  the  omis- 
sion of  such  a  journey  be  unsuitable  to  the  general  brevity 
with  which  these  memoirs  are  written,  especially  of  those 
parts  of  St.  Paul's  history  which  took  place  before  the 
historian  joined  his  society? 

But,  again,  the  first  account  we  find,  in  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles,  of  St.  Paul's  visiting  Galatia,  is  in  the  sixteenth 
chapter  and  the  sixth  verse :  "  Now,  when  they  had  gone 
through  Phrygia  and  the  region  of  Galatia,  they  assayed 
to  go  into  Bithynia."  The  progress  here  recorded  was 
subsequent  to  the  apostolic  decree  ;  therefore  that  decree 
must  have  been  extant  when  our  epistle  was  written. 
Now,  as  the  professed  design  of  the  epistle  was  to  estab- 
lish the  exemption  of  the  Gentile  converts  from  the  law 
of  Moses,  and  as  the  decree  pronounced  and  confirmed 
that  exemption,  it  may  seem  extraordinary  that  no  notice 
whatever  is  taken  of  that  determination,  nor  any  appeal 
made  to  its  authority.  Much  however  of  the  weight  of 
this  objection,  which  applies  also  to  some  other  of  St. 
Paul's  epistles,  is  removed  by  the  following  reflections. 

1.  It  was  not  St.  Paul's  manner,  nor  agreeable  to  it, 
to  resort  or  defer  much  to  the  authority  of  the  other 
apostles,  especially  whilst  he  was  insisting,  as  he  does 
strenuously  throughout  this  epistle  insist,  upon  his  own 
original  inspiration.  He  who  could  speak  of  the  very 
chiefest  of  the  apostles  in  such  terms  as  the  following — 
•'of  those  who  seemed  to  be  somewhat,  whatsoever  they 
were,  it  maketh  no  matter  to  me ;  God  accepteth  no 
man's  person ;  for  they  who  seemed  to  be  somewhat  in 
conference  added  nothing  to  me" — he,  I  say,  was  not 
likely  to  support  himself  by  their  decision. 

2.  The  epistle  argues  the  point  upon  principle ;  and  it 
is  not  perhaps  more  to  be  wondered  at,  that  in  such  an 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    GALATIANS.  123 

argument  St.  Paul  should  not  cite  the  apostolic  decree, 
than  it  would  be  that,  in  a  discourse  designed  to  prove 
the  moral  and  religious  duty  of  observing  the  Sabbath, 
the  writer  should  not  quote  the  thirteenth  canon. 

3.  The  decree  did  not  go  the  length  of  the  position 
maintained  in  the  epistle ;  the  decree  only  declares  that 
the  apostles  and  elders  at  Jerusalem  did  not  impose  the 
observance  of  the  Mosaic  law  upon  the  Gentile  converts, 
as  a  condition  of  their  being  admitted  into  the  Christian 
church.  Our  epistle  argues  that  the  Mosaic  institution 
itself  was  at  an  end,  as  to  all  effects  upon  a  future  state, 
even  with  respect  to  the  Jews  themselves. 

4.  They  whose  error  St.  Paul  combated  were  not  per- 
sons who  submitted  to  the  Jewish  law  because  it  was  im- 
posed by  the  authority,  or  because  it  was  made  part  of 
the  law  of  the  Christian  church ;  but  they  were  persons 
who,  having  already  become  Christians,  afterwards  vol- 
untarily took  upon  themselves  the  observance  of  the  Mo- 
saic code,  under  a  notion  of  attaining  thereby  to  a  greater 
perfection.  This,  I  think,  is  precisely  the  opinion  which 
St.  Paul  opposes  in  this  epistle.  Many  of  his  expressions 
apply  exactly  to  it :  "  Are  ye  so  foolish  ?  having  begun 
in  the  Spirit,  are  ye  now  made  perfect  in  the  flesh  V 
Chap.  iii.  3.  "  Tell  me,  ye  that  desire  to  be  under  the 
law,  do  ye  not  hear  the  law?"  Chap.  iv.  21.  "How 
turn  ye  again  to  the  weak  and  beggarly  elements,  where- 
unto  ye  desire  again  to  be  in  bondage  ?"  Chap.  iv.  9.  It 
cannot  be  thought  extraordinary  that  St.-  Paul  should  re- 
sist this  opinion  with  earnestness ;  for  it  both  changed  the 
character  of  the  Christian  dispensation,  and  derogated 
expressly  from  the  completeness  of  that  redemption  which 
Jesus  Christ  had  wrought  for  them  that  believed  in  him. 
But  it  was  to  no  purpose  to  allege  to  such  persons  the 
decision  at  Jerusalem ;  for  that  only  showed  that  they 


124  THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    GALATIANS. 

were  not  bound  to  these  observances  by  any  law  of  the 
Christian  church :  they  did  not  pretend  to  be  so  bound  : 
nevertheless  they  imagined  that  there  was  an  efficacy  in 
these  observances,  a  merit,  a  recommendation  to  favor, 
and  a  ground  of  acceptance  with  God  for  those  who  com- 
plied with  them.  This  was  a  situation  of  thought  to 
which  the  tenor  of  the  decree  did  not  apply.  Accord- 
ingly St.  Paul's  address  to  the  Galatians,  which  is  through- 
out adapted  to  this  situation,  runs  in  a  strain  widely  differ- 
ent from  the  language  of  the  decree  :  "  Christ  is  become  of 
no  effect  unto  you,  whosoever  of  you  are  justified  by  the 
law,"  chap.  v.  4 ;  i,  e.  whosoever  places  his  dependence 
upon  any  merit  he  may  apprehend  there  to  be  in  legal 
observances.  The  decree  had  said  nothing  like  this  ; 
therefore  it  would  have  been  useless  to  have  produced 
the  decree  in  an  argument  of  which  this  was  the  burden. 
In  like  manner  as  in  contending  with  an  anchorite,  who 
should  insist  upon  the  superior  holiness  of  a  recluse, 
ascetic  life,  and  the  value  of  such  mortifications  in  the 
sight  of  God,  it  would  be  to  no  purpose  to  prove  that  the 
laws  of  the  church  did  not  require  these  vows,  or  even  to 
prove  that  the  laws  of  the  church  expressly  left  every 
Christian  to  his  liberty.  This  would  avail  little  towards 
abating  his  estimation  of  their  merit,  or  towards  settling 
the  point  in  controversy.* 

*  Mr.  Locke's  solution  of  this  difficulty  is  by  no  means  satisfactory.  "  St. 
Paul,"  he  says,  "  did  not  remind  the  Galatians  of  the  apostolic  decree,  be- 
cause they  already  had  it."  In  the  first  place,  it  does  not  appear  with  cer- 
tainty that  they  had  it ;  in  the  second  place,  if  they  had  it,  this  was  rather 
a  reason  than  otherwise,  for  referring  them  to  it.  The  passage  in  the  Acts, 
from  which  Mr.  Locke  concludes  that  the  Galatic  churches  were  in  pos- 
session of  the  decree,  is  the  fourth  verse  of  the  sixteenth  chapter  ;  "  And,  as 
Ihey  "  (Paul  and  Timothy)  "  went  through  the  cities,  they  delivered  them 
the  decrees  for  to  keep,  that  were  ordained  of  the  apostles  and  elders  which 
were  at  Jerusalem."  In  my  opinion,  this  dehvery  of  the  decrees  was  con- 
fined to  the  churches  to  which  St.  Paul  came,  in  pursuance  of  the  plan  up- 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    GALATIANS.  125 

Another  difficulty  arises  from  the  accoLint  of  Peter's 
conduct  towards  the  Gentile  converts  at  Antioch,  as  given 
in  the  epistle,  in  the  latter  part  of  the  second  chapter ; 
which  conduct,  it  is  said,  is  consistent  neither  with  the 
revelation  communicated  to  him,  upon  the  conversion  of 
Cornelius,  nor  with  the  part  he  took  in  the  debate  at  Je- 
rusalem.    But,  in  order  to  understand  either  the  difficulty 

on  which  he  set  out,  "of  visiting  the  brethren  in  every  city  where  he  had 
preached  the  word  of  the  Lord  ;"  the  history  of  which  progress,  and  of  all 
that  pertained  to  it,  is  closed  in  the  fifth  verse,  when  the  history  informs 
that  "  so  were  the  churches  estabUshed  in  the  faith,  and  increased  in  num- 
ber daily."  Then  the  history  proceeds  upon  a  new  section  of  the  narrative, 
by  telling  us  that,  "when  they  had  gone  throughout  Phrygia  and  the  re- 
gion of  Galatia,  they  essayed  to  go  into  Bithynia."  The  decree  itself  is  di- 
rected to  "  the  brethren  which  are  of  the  Gentiles  in  Antioch,  Syria,  and 
Cilicia;"  that  is.  to  churches  already  founded,  and  in  which  this  question 
had  been  stirred.  And  I  think  the  observation  of  the  noble  author  of  the 
Miscellanea  Sacra  is  not  only  ingenious,  but  highly  probable,  viz.,  that 
there  is,  in  this  place,  a  dislocation  of  the  text,  and  that  the  fourth  and  fifth 
verses  of  the  sixteenth  chapter  ought  to  follow  the  last  verse  of  the  fifteenth, 
so  as  to  make  the  entire  passage  run  thus  :  "  And  they  went  through  Syria 
and  Cilicia,"  (to  the  Christians  of  which  countries  the  decree  was  addressed), 
"  confirming  the.  churches  ;  and,  as  they  went  through  the  cities,  they  de- 
livered them  the  decrees  for  to  keep,  that  were  ordained  of  the  apostles  and 
elders  which  were  at  Jerusalem ;  and  so  were  the  churches  established  in 
the  faith,  and  increased  in  number  daily."  And  then  the  sixteenth  chap- 
ter takes  up  a  new  and  unbroken  paragraph  ;  "  Then  came  he  to  Derbe 
and  Lystra,"  &c.  When  St.  I^ul  came,  as  he  did  into  Galatia,  to  preach 
the  Gospel,  for  the  first  time,  in  a  new  place,  it  is  not  probable  that  he 
would  make  mention  of  the  decree,  or  rather  letter,  of  the  church  of  Jeru- 
salem, Avhich  presupposed  Christianity  to  be  known,  and  which  related  to 
certain  doubts  that  had  arisen  in  some  established  Christian  communities. 

The  second  reason  which  Mr.  Locke  assigns  for  the  omission  of  the  de- 
cree, viz.  that  "  St.  Paul's  sole  object  in  the  epistle  was  to  acquit  himself  of 
the  imputation  that  had  been  charged  upon  him  of  actually  preaching  cir- 
cumcision," does  not  appear  to  me  to  be  strictly  true.  It  was  not  the  sole 
object.  The  epistle  is  written  in  general  opposition  to  the  Judaizing  incli- 
nations which  he  found  to  prevail  amongst  his  converts.  The  avowal  of 
his  own  doctrine,  and  of  his  steadfast  adherence  to  that  doctrine,  formed  a 
necessary  part  of  the  design  of  his  letter,  but  was  not  the  whole  of  it. 


126  THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    GALATIANS. 

or  the  solution,  it  will  be  necessary  to  state  and  explain 
the  passage  itself.  "  When  Peter  was  come  to  Antioch, 
I  withstood  him  to  the  face,  because  he  was  to  be  blamed  ; 
for,  before  that  certain  came  from  James,  he  did  eat  with 
the  Gentiles  ;  but,  when  they  were  come,  he  withdrew 
and  separated  himself,  fearing  them  which  were  of  the 
circumcision  ;  and  the  other  Jews  dissembled  likewise 
with  him,  insomuch  that  Barnabas  also  was  carried  away 
with  their  dissimulation :  but,  when  I  saw  they  walked  not 
uprightly,  according  to  the  truth  of  the  Gospel.  I  said 
unto  Peter,  before  them  all,  If  thou,  being  a  Jew,  livest 
after  the  manner  of  Gentiles,  and  not  as  do  the  Jews,  why 
compellest  thou  the  Gentiles  to  live  as  do  the  Jews  ?" 
Now  the  question  that  produced  the  dispute  to  which 
these  words  relate,  was  not  whether  the  Gentiles  were 
capable  of  being  admitted  into  the  Christian  covenant ; 
that  had  been  fully  settled :  nor  was  it  whether  it  should 
be  accounted  essential  to  the  profession  of  Christianity 
that  they  should  conform  themselves  to  the  law  of  Moses ; 
that  was  the  question  at  Jerusalem :  but  it  was,  whether, 
upon  the  Gentiles  becoming  Christians,  the  Jews  might 
henceforth  eat  and  drink  with  them,  as  with  their  own 
brethren.  Upon  this  point  St.  Peter  betrayed  some  in- 
constancy ;  and  so  he  might,  ag/'eeably  enough  to  his 
history.  He  might  consider  the  vision  at  Joppa  as  a  di- 
rection for  the  occasion,  rather  than  as  universally  abol- 
ishing the  distinction  between  Jew  and  Gentile  ;  I  do  not 
mean  with  respect  to  final  acceptance  with  God,  but  as 
to  the  manner  of  their  living  together  in  society  ;  at  least 
he  might  not  have  comprehended  this  point  with  such 
clearness  and  certainty,  as  to  stand  out  upon  it  against 
the  fear  of  bringing  upon  himself  the  censure  and  com- 
plaint of  his  brethren  in  the  church  of  Jerusalem,  who 
still  adhered  to  their  ancient  prejudices.     But  Peter,  it  is 


i-^ 


THE    El'ISTl.E    TO    'J'llE    GALATlANS.  127 

siiid,  compelled  the  Gentiles  la^aiL^siv — ''Why  compellest 
thou  the  Gentiles  to  live  as  do  the  Jews?"  How  did  he 
do  that  ?  The  only  way  in  which  Peter  appears  to  have 
compelled  the  Gentiles  to  comply  with  the  Jewish  institu- 
tion was  by  withdrawing  himself  from  their  society.  By 
which  he  may  be  understood  to  have  made  this  declara- 
tion :  "  We  do  not  deny  your  right  to  be  considered  as 
Christians ;  we  do  not  deny  your  title  in  the  promises  of 
the  Gospel,  even  without  compliance  with  our  law :  but, 
if  you  would  have  us  Jews  live  with  you  as  we  do  with 
one  another,  that  is,  it  you  woufd'in  all  respects  be  treated 
by  us  as  Jews,  you  must  live  as  such  yourselves."  This, 
I  think,  was  the  compulsion  which  St.  Peter's  conduct 
imposed  upon  the  Gentiles,  and  for  which  St.  Paul  re- 
proved him. 

As  to  the  part  which  the  historian  ascribes  to  St.  Peter 
in  the  debate  at  Jerusalem,  besides  that  it  was  a  different 
question  which  was  there  agitated  from  that  which  pro- 
duced the  dispute  at  Antioch,  there  is  nothing  to  hinder 
us  from  supposing  that  the  dispute  at  Antioch  was  prior 
to  the  consultation  at  Jerusalem  ;  or  that  Peter,  in  conse- 
quence of  this  rebuke,  might  have  afterwards  maintained 
firmer  sentiments. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE  EPHESIANS. 

No.  I. 

This  epistle,  and  the  Epistle  to  the  Colossians,  appear 
to  have  been  transmitted  to  their  respective  churches  by 
the  same  messenger :  "  but,  that  ye  also  may  know  my 
affairs,  and  how  I  do,  Tychlcus,  a  beloved  brother  and 
faithful  minister  in  the  Lord,  shall  make  known  to  you  all 
things  ;  whom  I  have  sent  unto  you  for  the  same  purpose, 
that  ye  might  know  our  affairs,  and  that  he  might  com- 
fort your  hearts."  Ephes.,  chap.  vi.  21,  22.  This  text, 
if  it  do  not  expressly  declare,  clearly  I  think  intimates, 
that  the  letter  was  sent  by  Tychicus.  The  words  made 
use  of  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Colossians  are  very  similar  to 
these,  and  afford  the  same  implication,  that  Tychicus,  in 
conjunction  with  Onesimus,  was  the  bearer  of  the  letter 
to  that  church :  "  All  my  state  shall  Tychicus  declare 
unto  you,  who  is  a  beloved  brother,  and  a  faithful  minis- 
ter, and  fellow  servant  in  the  Lord ;  whom  I  have  sent 
unto  you  for  the  same  purpose,  that  he  might  know  your 
estate,  and  comfort  your  hearts  ;  with  On*simus,  a  faith- 
ful and  beloved  brother,  who  is  one  of  you.  They  shall 
make  known  unto  you  all  things  which  are  done  here." 
Colos.,  chap.  iv.  7 — 9.  Both  epistles  represent  the  writer 
as  under  imprisonment  for  the  Gospel ;  and  both  treat  of 
the  same  general  subject.  The  Epistle  therefore  to  the 
Ephesians,  and  the  Epistle  to  the  Colossians,  import  to  be 


m 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    EPHESIANS.  129 

two  letters  written  by  the  same  person,  at,  or  nearly  at, 
the  same  time,  and  upon  the  same  subject,  and  to  have 
been  sent  by  the  same  messenger.  Now,  every  thing  in 
the  sentiments,  order,  and  diction  of  the  two  writings, 
corresponds  with  what  might  be  expected  from  this  cir- 
cumstance of  identity  or  cognation  in  their  original.  The 
leading  doctrine  of  both  epistles  is  the  union  of  Jews  and 
Gentiles  under  the  Christian  dispensation ;  and  that  doc- 
trine in  both  is  established  by  the  same  arguments,  or, 
more  properly  speaking,  illustrated  by  the  same  simili- 
tudes :*  "  one  head,"  "  one  body,"  "  one  new  man,"  "  one 
temple,"  are  in  both  epistles  the  figures  under  which  the 
society  of  believers  in  Christ,  and  their  common  relation 
to  him  as  such,  is  represented.!  The  ancient,  and,  as 
had  been  thought,  the  indelible  distinction  between  Jew 
and  Gentile,  in  both  epistles,  is  declared  to  be  "now  abol- 
ished by  his  cross."  Besides  this  consent  in  the  general 
tenor  of  the  two  epistles,  and  in  the  run  also  and  warmth 
of  thought  with  which  they  are  composed,  we  may  nat- 
urally expect,  in  letters  produced  under  the  circumstan- 
ces in  which  these  appear  to  have  been  written,  a  closer 
resemblance  of  style  and  diction  than  between  other  let- 
ters of  the  same  person  but  of  distant  dates,  or  between 
letters  adapted  to  different  occasions.     In  particular  we 

*  St.  Paul,  I  am  apt  to  believe,  has  been  sometimes  accused  of  inconclu- 
sive reasoning,  by  our  mistaking  that  for  reasoning  which  was  only  intended 
for  illustration.  He  is  not  to  be  read  as  a  man,  whose  own  persuasion  of 
the  truth  of  what  he  taught  always  or  solely  depended  upon  the  views  un- 
der which  he  represents  it  in  his  writings.  Taking  for  granted  the  cer- 
tainty of  his  doctrine,  as  resting  upon  the  revelation  that  had  been  imparted 
to  him,  he  exhibits  it  frequently  to  the  conception  of  his  readers  under  ima- 
ges and  allegories,  in  which,  if  an  analogy  may  be  perceived,  or  even  some- 
times a  poetic  resemblance  be  found,  it  is  all  perhaps  that  is  required. 

t  Compare  Ephesians  i.  22:  iv.  15  :  ii.  15  :  with  Colossians  i.  18 :  ii.  19  • 
iii.  10,  11.  Also,  Ephesians  ii.  14,  15 :  ii.  16:  ii.  20 :  with  Colossians  ii.  14  : 
i.  18—21 :  ii.  7. 

6* 


130  THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    EPHESIANS. 

may  look  for  many  of  the  same  expressions,  and  some- 
times for  whole  sentences  being  alike  ;  since  such  expres- 
sions and  sentences  would  be  repeated  in  the  second  let- 
ter (whichever  that  was)  as  yet  fresh  in  the  author's  mind 
from  the  writing  of  the  first.  This  repetition  occurs  in 
the  following  examples  :* 

Ephes.,  ch.  i.  7.  "In  whom  we  have  redemption 
through  his  blood,  the  forgiveness  of  sins."t 

Colos.,  ch.  i.  14.  *'In  w^hom  we  have  redemption 
through  his  blood,  the  forgiveness  of  sins."J 

Besides  the  sameness  of  the  words,  it  is  farther  re- 
markable that  the  sentence  is,  in  both  places,  preceded  by 
the  same  introductory  idea.  In  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephe- 
sians  it  is  the  "  beloved''^  (i^yaTtijuerc^ ;  in  that  to  the  Colos- 
sians,  it  is  ^'his  dear  Son"  (j5<o  n^g  ayanr^g  uvts),  "in  whom 
we  have  redemption."  The  sentence  appears  to  have 
been  suggested  to  the  mind  of  the  writer  by  the  idea 
which  had  accompanied  it  before. 

Ephes.,  ch.  i.  10.  *'  All  things  both  which  are  in  heaven 
and  which  are  in  earth,  even  in  him."§ 

Colos.,  ch.  i.  20.  "  All  things  by  him,  whether  they  be 
things  in  earth,  or  things  in  heaven."|| 

This  quotation  is  the  more  observable,  because  the  con- 
necting of  th^pgs  in  earth  with  things  in  heaven  is  a  very 
singular  sentiment,  and  found  nowhere  else  but  in  these 

*  when  verbal  comparisons  are  relied  upon,  it  becomes  necessary  to  state 
the  original ;  but,  that  the  EngUsh  reader  may  be  interrupted  as  little  as  may 
be,  I  shall  in  general  do  this  in  the  notes. 

+  Ephes.,  chap.  1.,  7.  Ev  cJ  c^ofxsv  mv  OTroAvrpwo-n/  6ia  Tov  aijiaTOS  aVTOV, 
TTiv  a<l>£(Tiv  Tcov  ra(ja7rrw//arwj/. 

^  Colos.,  chap,  i.,  14.  Ev  oS  e^ofiev  ttjv  airo^VTpwatv  6ca  tov  aiixaros  avroVf 
TTjv  afeeiv  twv  ajjiaprioiv.  However  it  must  be  observed  that,  in  this  latter 
text,  many  copies  have  not  6ia  tov  aiftaTos  avTov. 

^  Ephes.,  chap,  i.,  10.        Ta  te  ev  tois  ovpavoti  Kai  Ta  em   Tr)s  yrn,  ev  avTtji. 

II    Colos.,  chap,  i.,  20.      At  avTuv,  a-e  Ta  siTt  rrjs  yrjs,  £«r£  Ta  ev  rots  ovpavois. 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    EPHESIANS.  131 

two  epistles.  The  words  also  are  introduced  and  fol- 
lowed by  a  train  of  thought  nearly  alike.  They  are  in- 
troduced by  describing  the  union  which  Christ  had  ef- 
fected, and  they  are  followed  by  telling  the  Gentile 
churches  that  they  were  incorporated  into  it. 

Ephes.,  ch.  iii.  2.  "  The  dispensation  of  the  grace  of 
God,  which  is  given  me  to  you  ward."* 

Colos.,  ch.  i.  25.  "  The  dispensa^tion  of  God,  which  is 
given  to  me  for  you."t 

Of  these  sentences  it  may  likewise  be  observed  that  the 
accompanying  ideas  are  similar.  In  both  places  they  are 
immediately  preceded  by  the  mention  of  his  present  suf- 
ferings ;  in  both  places  they  are  immediately  followed  by 
the  mention  of  the  mystery  which  was  the  great  subject 
of  his  preaching. 

Ephes.,  ch.  v.  19.  "In  psalms  and  hymns  and  spir- 
itual songs,  singing  and  making  melody  in  your  hearts  to 
the  Lord."J 

Colos.,  ch.  iii.  16.  "In  psalms  and  hymns  and  spir- 
itual songs,  singing  with  grace  in  your  hearts  to  the 
Lord."§ 

Ephes.,  ch.  vi.  22.  "  Whom  I  have  sent  unto  you  for 
the  same  purpose,  that  ye  might  know  our  affairs,  and 
that  he  might  comfort  your  hearts. "|| 

Colos.,  ch.  iv.  8.     "  Whom'  I  have  sent  unto  you  for 

*  Ephes.,  chap,  iii.,  2.  Ttji/  oiKovoixiav  ^apiros  tov  Qeov  r/75  Sodeians  l^oi  eii 
vixai. 

t   Colos.,  chap,  i.,  25.      T/jv  oiKOVo^iiav  tov  Qeov  rtjv  SodeKrav  fioi  eii  vfjiai. 

I  Ephes.,  chap,  v.,  19.  '^aXjxoii  Kat  vfipois,  Kai  wSacs  irvEVjiaTLKats,  aSovres 
KUL  ipa'k'Kovrei  ev  rr]  KapSia  Vfioiv  rw  Kvptw. 

(j  Colos.,  chap,  iii.,  16.  "^oKfioii  Kai  invois,Kai  wJatj  TrveviiariKais,  ev  x^f"" 
aSovres  ev  ir)  KapSia  vyLOiv  rcJ  KvpJW. 

II  Ephes.,  chap,  vi.,  22.  'Ov  eitsjiipa  npog  v/xoj  eis  avro  tovto,  Iva  y^^'''^  '"* 
nepi  fijAwv,  Km  irapatca^^ear)  rag  Kupdiag  vjiOiv. 


132  THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE  EPHESIANS. 

the  same  purpose,  that  he  might  know  your  estate,  and 
comfort  your  hearts."* 

In  these  examples,  we  do  not  perceive  a  cento  of 
phrases  gathered  from  one  composition,  and  strung  to- 
gether with  the  other ;  but  the  occasional  occurrence  of 
the  same  expression  to  a  mind  a  second  time  revolving 
the  same  ideas. 

2.  Whoever  writes  two  letters,  or  two  discourses, 
nearly  upon  the  same  subject,  and  at  no  great  distance  of  | 
time,  but  without  any  express  recollection  of  what  he  had ' 
written  before,  will  find  himself  repeating  some  senten- 
ces, in  the  very  order  of  the  words  in  which  he  had  al-  j 
ready  used  them  ;  but  he  will  more  frequently  find  him-  I 
self  employing  some  principal  terms,  with  the  order  inad- 
vertently changed,  or  with  the  order  disturbed  by  the  in- 
termixture of  other  words  and  phrases  expressive  of  ideas 
rising  up  at  the  lime  :  or  in  many  instances  repeating  not 
single  words,  nor  yet  whole  sentences,  but  parts  and  frag- 
ments of  sentences.  Of  all  these  varieties  the  examina- 
tion of  our  two  epistles  will  furnish  plain  examples ;  and 
I  should  rely  upon  this  class  of  instances  more  than  upon 
the  last ;  because,  although  an  impostor  might  transcribe 
into  a  forgery  entire  sentences  and  phrases,  yet  the  dis- 
location of  words,  the  partial  recollection  of  phrases  and 
sentences,  the  intermixture  of  new  terms  and  new  ideas 
with  terms  and  ideas  before  used,  which  will  appear  in  the 
examples  that  follow,  and  which  are  the  natural  properties 
of  writings  produced  under  the  circumstances  in  which 
these  epistles  are  represented  to  have  been  composed — 
would  not,  I  think,  have  occurred  to  the  invention  of  a  for- 
ger ;  nor,  if  they  had  occurred,  would  they  have  been  so  ea- 
sily executed.     This  studied  variation  was  a  refinement  in 

*  Colos.,  chap,  iv.,  8.  'Of  e-n-eii^a  irpos  ^nai  cij  avro  rovro,  tva  yvM  ra  ixcnt. 
vficov,  Kai  rro!j9tt^-a^£(r7J  raj  KapSia^  vfioiv. 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    EPHESIANS.  133 

forgery  which  I  believe  did  not  exist ;  or,  if  we  can  sup- 
pose it  to  have  been  practised  in  the  instances  adduced  be- 
low, why,  it  may  be  asked,  was  not  the  same  art  exercised 
upon  those  which  we  have  collected  in  the  preceding  class  ? 

Ephes.,  ch.  i.  19  ;  ch.  ii.  5.  "  Towards  us  who  believe, 
according  to  the  working  of  his  mighty  power,  which  he 
wrought  in  Christ,  when  he  raised  him  from  the  dead, 
(and  set  him  at  his  own  right  hand  in  the  heavenly  places, 
far  above  all  principality,  and  power,  and  might,  and  do- 
minion, and  every  name  that  is  named,  not  only  in  this 
world,  but  in  that  whjch  is  to  come.  And  hath  put  all 
things  under  his  feet :  and  gave  him  to  be  the  head  over 
all  things,  to  the  church  which  is  his  body,  the  fulness  of 
all  things,  that  filleth  all  in  all)  ;  and  you  hath  he  quick- 
ened, who  are  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins,  (wherein  in 
time  past  ye  walked  according  to  the  course  of  this  world, 
according  to  the  prince  of  the  power  of  the  air,  the  spirit 
that  now  worketh  in  the  children  of  disobedience  ;  among 
whom  also  we  all  had  our  conversation,  in  times  past,  in 
the  lust  of  our  flesh,  fulfilling  the  desires  of  the  flesh  and 
of  the  mind,  and  were  by  nature  the  children  of  wrath, 
even  as  others.  But  God,  who  is  rich  in  mercy,  for  his 
great  love  wherewithal  he  loved  us,)  even  when  we  were 
dead  in  sins,  hath  quickened  us  together  with  Christ."* 

Colos.,  ch.  ii.  12,  13.  ''Through  the  faith  of  the  ope- 
ration of  God,  who  hath  raised  him  from  the  dead :  and 
you,  being  dead  in  your  sins  and  the  uncircumcision  of 
the  flesh,  hath  he  quickened  together  with  him."t 

*  Ephes.,  chap,  i.,  19,  20  '.  ii.,  1,  5.  Tlovs  nKTrevovras  Kara  Tt]v  evepyeiai/ 
vro  Kparovs  ttjs  la^vos  avrov,  t]v  £vr]pyr](rev  ev  tco  XjOiotw,  eysipas  avrov  ek  VEKpwv' 
KOI  CKaQiaev  ev  Ss^ia  avrov  ev  rots  eirovpavioii — Kai  vp-a^  ovras  veKpovi  tois  napairru)- 
paffi  KUi  TUis  apapriais — Kai  ovras  hpo-i  vEKpovi  rois  -irapanTOipacri^  <rvv£^uiOTroir]<T£  rut 

^piffTb). 

t  Colos.,  chap,  ii.,  12,  13.      Am  rm  rrtorcwj  rris   evepyetas  rov  Qeov  rov  eyei- 


134  THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    EPHESIANS. 

Oat  of  the  long  quotation  from  the  Ephesians,  take 
away  the  parentheses,  and  you  have  left  a  sentence  al- 
most in  terms  the  same  as  the  short  quotation  from  the 
Colossians.  The  resemblance  is  more  visible  in  the  orig- 
inal than  in  our  translation  ;  for  what  is  rendered  in  one 
place,  "  the  working,"  and  in  another  the  "  operation,"  is 
the  same  Greek  term  sve^yeia :  in  one  place  it  is,  rovg  nia- 

lEvovxag  xaxoi,  ii^v  evsgyeiav  ;   in  the   Other,  dia  Trjg  niaTSCjg  ri]g 

evsQysiag.  Here,  therefore,  we  have  the  same  sentiment, 
and  nearly  in  the  same  words ;  but,  in  the  Ephesians, 
twice  broken  or  interrupted  by  incidental  thoughts,  which 
St.  Paul,  as  his  manner  was,  enlarges  upon  by  the  way,* 
and  then  returns  to  the  thread  of  his  discourse.  It  is  in- 
terrupted the  first  time  by  a  view  which  breaks  in  upon 
his  mind  of  the  exaltation  of  Christ ;  and  the  second  time 
by  a  description  of  heathen  depravity.  I  have  only  to 
remark  that  Griesbach,  in  his  very  accurate  edition,  gives 
the  parentheses  very  nearly  in  the  same  manner  in  which 
they  are  here  placed ;  and  that  without  any  respect  to 
the  comparison  which  we  are  proposing. 

Ephes.,  ch.  iv.  2 — 4.  "With  all  lowliness  and  meek- 
ness, with  long-suffering,  forbearing  one  another  in  love ; 
endeavoring  to  keep  the  unity  of  the  Spirit,  in  the  bond  of 
peace.  There  is  one  body  and  one  Spirit,  even  as  ye 
are  called  in  one  hope  of  your  calling."! 

Colos.,  ch.  iii.  12 — 15.  "Put  on  therefore,  as  the  elect 
of  God,  holy  and  beloved,  bgwels  of  mercies,  kindness, 
humbleness  of  mind,  meekness,  long-suffering,  forbearing 

pavTos  avTOV  ck  rw^  vcKpcov.  Kai  vfiai  vEKpovs  ovrai  ev  tois  -napa-nTOijiaai  kui  ti] 
aKpoBvaria  Tr]S  crapKos  vfJioiVf  avve^cJOTroiriae  aw  avTou 

*  Vide  Locke  in  loc. 

■(■  Ephes.,  chap,  iv.,  2 — 4.  Mera  naarjs  raireivo<ppo(Tvvr]i  Kat  npaorriroi,  jxera 
ftuKpoOvixiag,  avf)(On£voL  oKXnKoiv  ev  ayairri'  (rnovSa^ovTCS  rrjpeiv  Tr}v  ivorriTa  rov 
irvevfiaTos  ev  rco  cvvieafiu^  t)is  eiprjvrjs.  'Ev  ucofta  Kai  Iv  irvevixa,  KaOoJi  Kat  tKXrjdriTE 
tv  [iia  e\niSi  rrji  K^rjaecoi  vjicov. 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    EPHESIAN3.  135 

one  another  and  forgiving  one  another ;  if  any  man  have 
a  quarrel  against  any,  even  as  Christ  forgave  you,  so  also 
do  ye  ;  and,  above  all  these  things,  put  on  charity,  which 
is  the  bond  of  perfectness  ;  and  let  the  peace  of  God  rule 
in  your  hearts,  to  the  which  also  ye  are  called  in  one 
body."* 

In  these  two  quotation  the  words  Tansivoq^qoawr,,  nqaox^g, 

fiaxgoOujuia,  avexofxevoi,  uIXt^Iojp,  occur  in  exactly  the  same 
order :  ccyanrj  is  also  found  in  both,  but  in  a  different  con- 
nection :  ovvdecFixog  zrjg  eiqrjvijg  answers  tO  awdBO^og  rrjg  t6- 
Xeiojj]Tog  :    BKXrj6i]xe  ev  evi  aojfian  to  e*'  awfia  xadcog  xat  syilridrjxs 

Bv  fxia  B^^nidi :  yet  is  this  similitude  found  in  the  midst  of 
sentences  otherwise  very  different. 

Ephes.,  ch.  iv.  16.  ''  From  whom  the  whole  body  fitly 
joined  together,  and  compacted  by  that  which  every  joint 
supplieth  according  to  the  effectual  working  in  the  mea- 
sure of  every  part,  maketh  increase  of  the  body."t 

Colos.,  ch.  ii.  19.  "From  which  all  the  body,  by  joints 
and  bands,  having  nourishment  ministered  and  knit  to- 
gether, increaseth  with  the  increase  of  God. "J  '' 

In  these  quotations  are  read  e|  '^nav  to  aw.wa  av^StSa'c^o.    0  «-> 
^iBvov  in  both  places:  Bmxoqi^yovfiBvov  answering  to  Bnvxoq^ 
Tjyiag  :    diu  jwv  dgpwv  dia  naaijg  dq^rjg  :   av^Bt  ttjp  av^rjaiv  noisixai, 

rrjv  ttv^i]aiv  :  and  yet  the  sentences  are  considerably  di- 
versified in  other  parts. 

*  Colos.,  chap.  iii.  12 — 15.  Ei/Svaaade  ow  Wf  £K\£KTOt  Tov  Qeov  ayioi  Kai 
flyunrjuevoi,  (TirXay^va  oiKTipjiCov,  ^priiTTOTriTaf  Taireivocppoavvriv ,  npaoTrira,  jiaKpodv- 
uiav'  avE)(^oiJ£voi  aXX'jXcoi',  KUi  jfapii^oyLtvoL  iavrois,  eav  rij  ttjOoj  riva  e^ri  nofKpriv' 
Kadcji  Kai  0  XjOtoTOf  ex^^pidaro  Vfxiv,  hvroi  Kai  ijieis'  tin  iraari  6e  rovroii  rrjv  ayanrju, 
riTis  eatri  cvvSeffnoi  rrii  TeXftorjjTOf  Kai  ^  Eiprjvn  rov  Qeov  PpaPeveru)  ev  rais  KapSiais 
vfxiov,  ets  hvKai  CK^tjOriTe  cv  ivi  aomari, 

t  Ephes.,  chap,  iv.,  16.  E|  hv  irav  to  awjxa  tTVvapjxo'Xoyovfievov  koi  avi^0i0a' 
^ojievov  Sia  nacrris  a<pr)i  rrn  eiri^opriyias  kut^  evepyeiav  £v  jxErpo)  tvos  £Ka<rTOV  fiEpovs 
rriv  av^riaiv  tov  o-w/uurof  irvtsiTai. 

t  Colos.,  chap,  ii.,  19.  E^  hv  nav  ro  o-w^a  Jta  tov  a<pwv  kui  avpSeafiojv  tT^iX^ 
priyov^i£voi>  Kat  avi)(ii8a^njX£vov^  av^£t  ttiv  av^rtJtv  tov  Qeov. 


136  THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    EPHESIANS. 

Ephes.,  chap.  iv.  32.  "  And  be  kind  one  to  another 
tender-hearted,  forgiving  one  another,  even  as  God,  for 
Christ's  sake,  hath  forgiven  you."* 

Colos.,  ch.  iii.  13.  "  Forbearing  one  another,  and  for- 
giving one  another,  if  any  man  have  a  quarrel  against 
any;  even  as  Christ  forgave  you,  so  also  do  ye."t 

Here  we  have  "  forgiving  one  another,  even  as  God, 
for  Christ's  sake  (sr  XQiam),  hath  forgiven  you,"  in  the 
first  quotation,  substantially  repeated  in  the  second.  But 
in  the  second  the  sentence  is  broken  by  the  interposition 
of  a  new  clause, ''  if  any  man  have  a  quarrel  against  any  ;" 
and  the  latter  part  is  a  little  varied ;  instead  of  "  God  in 
Christ,"  it  is  "  Christ  hath  forgiven  you." 

Ephes.,  ch.  iv.  22 — 24.  "  That  ye  put  off  concerning 
the  former  conversation  the  old  man,  which  is  corrupt  ac- 
cording to  the  deceitful  lusts,  and  be  renewed  in  the  spirit 
of  your  mind ;  and  that  ye  put  on  the  new  man,  which 
after  God,  is  created  in  righteousness  and  true  holiness."{ 

Colos.,  chap.  iii.  9,  10.  *' Seeing  that  ye.  have  put  off 
the  old  man  with  his  deeds,  and  have  put  on  the  new  man, 
which  is  renewed  in  knowledge,  after  the  image  of  him 
that  created  him."§ 

In  these  quotations,  "  putting  off  the  old  man  and  put- 
ting on  the  new,"  appears  in  both.  The  idea  is  farther 
explained  by  calling  it  a  renewal ;  in  the  one,  ''renewed 

*  Ephes.,  chap,  iv.,  32.  Vn'ccOe  6s  et;  aWrjXovg  ^priffroi,  svanXayvvoi,  %«f)£- 
^ofi£vui  lavTOig,  Kadws  Kat  o  Qeos  iv  j^piarcii  e^apiffaro  Vfiiv. 

t  Colos.,  chap,  iii.,  13.  A-VE^x^ojievoi  aAX/jXui/,  kui  x'^pi^o^ivoi  lavroii^cav  ti 
rpoi  Tiva  E^rj  no^(i)r]v'   Kado)i  Kai  h  XjOtorof  Ej(^api(TaTo  vjiiv,  bvTU)  koi  viieis. 

t  Ephes.,  chap.  iv.  22 — 24.  A.iTo9e(jdat  vjxas  Kara  TTjv  TrpoTEpav  avaarpoipriv, 
Tov  TToKaiov  avdpcoTTov  rov  (pQcipojiEvov  Kara  ras  ETzidvjiiai  rris  arrar/js*  avavsovaOai  6e 
Tb)  TvevjjiaTi  TOV  voos  viiwv,  Kai  evSva-aaOai  rov  Kaivov  avdpwrtov^  tov  Kara  Qeov  Krta- 
devTa  Ev  StKaiotTvvT)  Kai  bciorrjTi  rr]s  aXrjdEias. 

§  Colos.,  chap,  iii.,  9,  10.  AnEK6v(7aii£voi  tov  vaXatov  avdpcoTTov  aw  rats 
npa^Eoiv  avToV  Kai  EvSvaajxEvoi  tov  veov,tov  avaKaivovjiEvov  eig  Eniyvwaiv  kot' eiKOva 
rov  KTicravTOS  avrov. 


THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE  EPHESIANS.  137 

in  the  spirit  of  your  mind;"  in  the  other,  "renewed  in 
knowledge."  In  both,  the  new  man  is  said  to  be  formed 
according  to  the  same  model ;  in  the  one,  he  is  after  God 
created  in  righteousness  and  true  holiness ;"  in  the  other, 
"he  is  renewed  after  the  image  of  him  that  created  him." 
In  a  word,  it  is  the  same  person  writing  upon  a  kindred 
subject,  with  the  terms  and  ideas  which  he  had  before 
employed  still  floating  in  his  memory."* 

Ephes.,  ch.  v.  6 — 8.  "  Because  of  these  things  cometh 
the  wrath  of  God  upon  the  childen  of  disobedience  :  be  not 
ye  therefore  partakers  with  them  ;  for  ye  were  some- 
times darkness,  but  now  are  ye  light  in  the  Lord ;  walk 
as  children  of  light."t 

Colos.,  ch.  iii.  6—8.  "  For^  which  thing^s  sake  the 
wrath  of  God  cometh  upon  the  children  of  disobedience  ; 
in  the  which  ye  also  walked  some  time,  when  ye  lived  in 
them.     But  now  ye  also  put  off  all  these."  J 

These  verses  afford  a  specimen  of  that  partial  resem- 
blance which  is  only  to  be  met  with  when  no  imitation  is 
designed,  when  no  studied  recollection  is  employed,  but 
when  the  mind,  exercised  upon  the  same  subject,  is  left 
to  the  spontaneous  return  of  such  terms  and  phrases  as, 
having  been  used  before,  may  happen  to  present  them- 
selves again.     The  sentiment  of  both  passages  is  through- 

*  In  these  comparisons,  we  often  perceive  the  reason  why  the  writer, 
though  expressing  the  same  idea,  uses  a  different  term  ;  namely,  because 
the  terra  before  used  is  employed  in  the  sentence  under  a  different  form : 
thus,  in  the  quotations  under  our  eye,  the  new  man  is  Kaivog  avQptoTzos  in  the 
Ephesians,  and  rov  veov  in  the  Colossians  ;  but  then  it  is  because  tov  kuivov 
is  used  in  the  next  word,  avaKaivovixevov. 

■j"  Ephes.,  chap,  v.,  6 — 8.  Ata  ravra  yap  epx^rai  h  opyrj  rov  Qeov  £t:i  tovs 
iiovi  TTjs  aizstdsiai.  Mr?  ovv  yivtaOe  aviifxero^oi  avrov.  Hre  yap  ttots  ff/forof, 
vvv  Se  00)?  ev  Kupuo'   wj  rcKva  (pMTOi  mpnraTEiTe. 

X  Colos.,  chap,  iii.,  6 — 8.  At  a  epxCTai  h  opyr/  tov  Qsov  cm  rovi  viovi  rrn 
aiTtideiai'  tv  his  Kai  vjiEU  nepiEiraTnaare  ttote,  ore  s^rire  tv  aVTOig.  "Nvvi  Se  ano- 
deadc  Kui  vfieii  ra  navra. 


138  THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE  EPHESIANS. 

out  alike  :  half  of  that  sentiment,  the  denunciation  of  God's 
wrath,  is  expressed  in  identical  words ;  the  other  half, 
viz.  the  admonition  to  quit  their  former  conversation,  in 
words  entirely  difterent. 

Ephes.,  ch.  v.  15,  16.  "  See  then  that  ye  walk  circum- 
spectly ;  not  as  fools,  but  as  wise,  redeeming  the  time."* 

Colos.,  ch.  iv.  5.  "  Walk  in  wisdom  towards  them  that 
are  without,  redeeming  the  time."t 

This  is  another  example  of  that  mixture  which  we  re- 
marked of  sameness  and  variety  in  the  language  of  one 
writer.  "Redeeming  the  time"  (e^ayogaQofAefot,  lov  xatQov)^ 
is  a  literal  repetition.     '"'Walk  not  as  fools,  but  as  wise," 

neginuTens  (xrj  (b?  aaocpoc,  aW  (bj  aocpoi^^  answers  exactly 
in  sense,  and  nearly  in  terms,  to  "walk  in  wisdom,"  (ev 
aocpia  TIB QinuT bite).  liBQinaiBne  axQiGcog  is  a  very  different 
phrase,  but  is  intended  to  convey  precisely  the  same  idea 
as  nBQinocTBus  TTQog  zovg  eiw.  jnQi^wg  is  not  Well  rendered 
"circumspectly."  It  means  what  in  modern  speech  we 
should  call  "  correctly  ;"  and  when  we  advise  a  person  to 
behave  "  correctly,"  our  advice  is  always  given  with  a 
reference  "  to  the  opinion  of  others,"  nqog  jovg  e^w.  "  Walk 
correctly,  redeeming  the  time,"  i.  e.  suiting  yourselves  to 
the  difficulty  and  ticklishness  of  the  times  in  which  we 
live,  "  because  the  days  are  evil." 

Ephes.,  ch.  vi.  19,  20.  "  And  (praying)  for  me,  that 
utterance  may  be  given  unto  me,  that  I  may  open  my 
mouth  boldly  to  make  known  the  mystery  of  the  Gospel, 
for  which  I  am  an  ambassador  in  bonds,  that  therein  I 
may  speak  boldly,  as  I  ought  to  speak."J 

*  Ephes.,  chap,  v.,  15,  16.  BXeireTeow  :r6Jf  aKpiPcJS  TrtpnraTeire'  fit]  wj  acro' 
foif  aW  wj  ffo^ot,  c^ayopa^ojjLCVoi  rov  Kaipov. 

t  Colos.,  chap,  iv.,  5.  Ei/  ao(pia  TreonraTEire  Kpog  rovg  £|a),  rov  Kaipov  t^ayo 
pa^ofiEvoi. 

X    Ephes.,  chap,  vi.,  19,  20.      Kat    vncp  e/xovy   Iva   jiol   Sodeit}  'Xoyoi  iv  avoi^e* 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    EPHESIANS.  139 

Colos.,  ch.  iv.  3,  4.  "Withal  praying  also  for  us  that 
God  would  open  unto  us  a  door  of  utterance  to  speak  the 
mystery  of  Christ,  for  which  I  am  also  in  bonds,  that  I 
may  make  it  manifest  as  I  ought  to  speak."* 

In  these  quotations,  the  phrase  ''  as  I  ought  to  speak" 
(ihg  dec  /ue  Xahjoui),  the  words  ''utterance"  (^-oyog),  "a  mys- 
tery" (jLtvartiQiot),  "open'^  (^ufoi^ri  and  ev  afoi^ei),  are  the 
same.  "  To  make  known  the  mystery  of  the  Gospel" 
\^YtMgia(xi  70  fivorriQiot'),  answers  to  "make  it  manifest" 
(tV«  (fx'xreQMao)  uvio)  ;  "  for  which  I  am  an  ambassador  in 
bonds"  (i5ne^  6v  n(jea6svoj  sp  uXvaet),  to  *' for  which  I  am 
also  in  bonds"  ((^t'  6  x«t  dedejuai). 

Ephes.,  ch.  v.  22.  "  Wives,  submit  yourselves  to  your 
own  husbands,  as  unto  the  Lord,  for  the  husband  is  the 
head  of  the  wife,  even  as  Christ  is  the  head  of  the  church, 
and  he  is  the  Saviour  of  the  body.  Therefore,  as  the 
church  is  subject  unto  Christ,  so  let  the  wives  be  to  their 
own  husbands  in  every  thing.  Husbands,  love  your  ivives, 
even  as  Christ  also  loved  the  church,  and. gave  himself 
for  it,  that  he  might  sanctify  and  cleanse  it  with  the  wash- 
ing of  water  by  the  word ;  that  he  might  present  it  to 
himself  a  glorious  church,  not  having  spot  or  wrinkle,  or 
any  such  thing ;  but  that  it  should  be  holy  and  without 
blemish.  So  ought  men  to  love  their  wives  as  their  own 
bodies.  He  that  loveth  his  wife  loveth  himself;  for  no 
man  ever  yet  hated  his  own  flesh,  but  nourisheth  and 
cherisheth  it,  even  as  the  Lord  the  church ;  for  we  are 
members  of  his  body,  of  his  flesh,  and  of  his  bones.  For 
this  cause  shall  a  man  leave  his  father  and  his  mother, 
and  be  joined  unto  his  wife,  and  they  two  shall  be  one 

Tov  (rTOfiaTos  //on  ev  nappriaia,   yi/wptirat  to  [ivarrjpiov   rov   evayys'Xiov,  imp  bv  irptc- 
0ev(ii  Ev  dXvaei,  Iva  ev  avros  napprjaiaawpLai,  0)5  6ei  [ic  Xa^rjaai. 

*  Colos.,  chap,  iv.,  3,  4.  Tlpoaev^^^onevoi  cLjia  kui  itepi  ^^cji^,  Iva  b  Qeog  auoc^rj 
I'lfiiv  dvpav  TOV  Xoyov,  XaXj^o-ai  to  p.vaTr)pi.ov  tov  ^pioTOV  6i  b  Kai  Sc/Sejiai,  iva  drnvC" 
qoiaoi  avTo^  wj  hi  pie   XaXrjo-ai. 


140  THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    EPHESIA^^S. 

flesh.  This  is  a  great  mystery  ;  but  I  speak  concerning 
Christ  and  the  church.  Nevertheless,  let  every  one  of 
you  in  particular  so  love  his  wife  even  as  himself;  and 
the  wife  see  that  she  reverence  her  husband.  Children, 
obey  you?'  parents,  in  the  Lord,  for  this  is  right.  Honor 
thy  father  and  thy  mother  (which  is  the  first  command- 
ment with  promise),  that  it  may  be  well  with  thee,  and 
that  thou  mayest  live  long  on  the  earth.  And,  ye  fathers, 
provoke  not  your  children  to  wrath,  but  bring  them  up  in 
the  nurture  and  admonition  of  the  Lord.  Servants,  be 
obedient  to  them  that  are  your  masters  according  to  the 
fiesh,  with  fear  and  trembling,  in  singleness  of  your  heart, 
as  unto  Christ ;  not  with  eye-service,  as  men-pleasers,  but 
as  the  servants  of  Christ,  doing  the  will  of  God  from  the 
heart ;  with  good  will  doing  service,  as  to  the  Lord,  and 
not  to  men  ;  knoiving  that  whatsoever  good  thing  any  man 
doeth,  the  same  shall  he  receive  of  the  Lord,  whether  he  be 
bond  or  free.  And  ye,  masters,  do  the  same  thing  unto 
them,  forbearing  threatening  ;  knowing  that  your  Master 
also  is  in  heaven,  neither  is  there  respect  of  persons  with 
him."* 

f  Colos.,  chap,   iii.,  18.      "  Wives,  submit  yourselves 

*  Ephes.  chap,  v.,  22.       'At  yvvaiK£i,  tois  iSiois   avSpatnv  VTToraircTeade,  wj  to 

•j"  Colos.,  chap,  iii.,  18.     '  Ai   ywacKes,    viroTauutaQt    rois    iStois    avSpaaiv,   ws 
avr}KEv  €v  J^vpio). 

Ephes.      'Ot  av6pcSy  ayanare  ras  yvvaiKOS  eavTcop. 

Colos.      'Ot  avSpcs,  ayanare  rag   yvvaiKas. 

Ephes.      Ta   TCKva,   {lira   overe  rots    yovsvaiv   v^iwv   ev   Kuptw"   tovto    yap  eari 

SlKUlOV. 

Colos.  Ta  TSKva,  viraKovsre  roig  yovevtn  Kara  TzavTa"   tovto  yap  eaTiv  Evaptarov 
TO)  KiipioJ. 

Ephes.  Kai  hi  irarepeg,  fir)  irapopyi^cre  Ta  TEKva  vfioiv. 

Colos.  'Oi  TraTEpzi,  fin  eoeOi^ete*  Ta  TEKva  v/itoj/. 

Ephes.  'Ot  6ov\oiy  vnaKovETE  roij  KVpioig  Kara  oapKa  fisra  <poPov  Kai  7ponov,EV 


*  napopyi^ere,  lectio  non  spemenda  ;  Griesbach. 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    EPHESIANS.  141 

unto  your  own  husbands,  as  it  is  fit  in  the  Lord.  Hus- 
bands, love  your  wives,  and  be  not  bitter  against  them. 
Children,  obey  your  parents  in  all  things,  for  this  is  well 
pleasing  unto  the  Lord.  Fathers,  provoke  not  your  chil- 
dren to  anger,  lest  they  be  discouraged.  Servants,  obey 
in  all  things  your  masters  according  to  the  flesh  :  not 
with  eye-service,  as  men-pleasers,  but  in  singleness  of 
heart,  fearing  God  ;  and,  whatever  ye  do,  do  it  heartily, 
as  to  the  Lord,  and  not  unto  men,  knowing  that  of  the 
Lord  ye  shall  receive  the  reward  of  the  inheritance ;  for 
ye  serve  the  Lord  Christ.  But  he  that  doeth  wrong,  shall 
receive  for  the  wrong  which  he  hath  done  :  and  there  is 
no  respect  of  persons.  Masters,  give  unto  your  servants 
that  which  is  just  and  equal,  knowing  that  ye  also  have  a 
Master  in  heaven." 

The  passages  marked  by  Italics  in  the  quotation  from 
the  Ephesians  bear  a  strict  resemblance,  not  only  in  sig- 
nification, but  in  terms,  to  the  quotation  from  the  Colos- 
sians.  Both  the  words  and  the  order  of  the  words  are  in 
many  clauses  a  duplicate  of  one  another.  In  the  Epistle 
to  the  Colossians,  these  passages  are  laid  together ;  in 
that  to  the  Ephesians  they  are  divided  by  intermediate 
matter,  especially  by  a  long  digressive  allusion  to  the 
mysterious  union  between  Christ  and  his  Church  ;  which, 
possessing,  as  Mr.  Locke  hath  well  observed,  the  mind 
of  the  apostle,  from  being  an  incidental  thought,  grows 

aT:\oTriTi  rris  KopSiai  vixcjv,  wj  wwXpKrrw*  jjir]  kut^  o<p6a\fxo6ov\Eiav,  wj  avOpcjiras  CffKOtj 
aW  (ij  SovXoi  Tov  Xj9icrrov,  ttoiovvtes  to  OeXriixa  rov  Qeov  ek  ipv^rjs  fiEv  evvoias  Sov- 
XevovTEs  cij  TO)  T^vpiM,  KUi  oVK  avdpw^toii'  EiSoTES  oTL  6  £av  Ti  CKa(TTOi  iroir)ar)  ayadov, 

10VT0   KOjItElTUl   TVapa   tov   KvpiOV,  site   SuvXoi,  f.lTE  E\£vd£pOi. 

Colos.  'Ot  6ov\oi,  vnaKovETE  Kara  rrai/ra  Toig  Kara  aapKa  KVpioiSyjjri  ev  ocpOaX- 
/(0<5ouX£<aif,  cjj  avOpionapecTKOi,  aXX'  ev  air\oTr]ri  KapSias,  <po(iovjxEvoi  tov  QeoV  kui 
irav  6,  Ti  eav  noiTiTE,  ek  4'^X^^  £j9ya^£o-0£,  cJs  rw  Ktipto),  Kai  ovk  avdpcjirois  EiSoTsg  on 
arro  T\.vpiov  a-oXrixpEads  Tr]v  avTaiTo6o<nv  r/jj  KXnpovo^iai'  tu>  yap  Kuptoi  Xpiffroj 
6  ivXEVtrr. 


142  THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    EPHESIANS. 

up  into  the  principal  subject.  The  affinity  between  these 
two  passages  in  signification,  in  terms,  and  in  the  order 
of  the  words,  is  closer  thaii  can  be  pointed  out  between 
any  parts  of  any  two  epistles  in  the  volume. 

If  the  reader  would  see  how  the  same  subject  is  treated 
by  a  different  hand,  and  how  distinguishable  it  is  from 
the  production  of  the  same  pen,  let  him  turn  to  the  sec- 
ond and  third  chapters  of  the  First  Epistle  of  St.  Peter. 
The  duties  of  servants,  of  wives,  and  of  husbands,  are 
enlarged  upon  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians ;  but  the 
subjects  both  occur  in  a  difl?erent  order,  and  the  train  of 
sentiment  subjoined  to  each  is  totally  unlike. 

3.  In  two  letters  issuing  from  the  same  person,  nearly 
at  the  same  time,  and  upon  the  same  general  occasion, 
we  may  expect  to  trace  the  influence  of  association  in 
the  order  in  which  the  topics  follow  one  another.  Certain 
ideas  universally  or  usually  suggest  others.  Here  the 
order  is  what  we  call  natural,  and  from  such  an  order 
nothing  can  be  concluded.  But  when  the  order  is  arbi- 
trary, yet  alike,  the  concurrence  indicates  the  effect  of 
that  principle  by  which  ideas  which  have  been  once 
joined  commonly  revisit  the  thoughts  together.  The 
epistles  under  consideration  furnish  the  two  following  re- 
markable instances  of  this  species  of  agreement. 

Ephes.  ch.  iv.  24.  "  And  that  ye  put  on  the  new  man, 
which  after  God  is  created  in  righteousness  and  true  ho- 
liness ;  wherefore,  putting  away  lying,  speak  every  man 
truth  with  his  neighbor,  for  we  are  members  one  of  an- 
other."* 

Colos.,  ch.  iii.  9.     "  Lie  not  one  to  another  ;  seeing  that 

*  Ephes.,  chap,  iv.,  24,  25.  Kai  cv6v(jaaQai  tov  kuivov  avBpuTTOVy  rov  Kara 
Qiov  KTiaQtvra  ev  diKaioirvvri  kui  oaiOTrjTi  rrn  aXr)deias'  6io  airoQtyLevoi  to  ii/enJof, 
AaXstre  aXridaav  eKaaroi  jxera  tov  r\ri<riov  avTOV   bn  eajisv  dX\r]\oiv  neXr], 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    EPHESIANS.  143 

ye  have  put  off  the  old  man  with  his  deeds  ;  and  have 
put  on  the  new  man,  which  is  renewed  in  knowledge."* 

The  vice  of  '*  lying,"  or  a  correction  of  that  vice,  does 
not  seem  to  bear  any  nearer  relation  to  the  "  putting  on 
the  new  man"  than  a  reformation  in  any  other  article 
of  morals.  Yet  these  two  ideas,  we  see,  stand  in  both 
epistles  in  immediate  connection. 

Ephes.,  ch.  v.  20,  21,  22.  "  Giving  thanks  always  for 
all  things  unto  God  and  the  Father,  in  the  name  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  submitting  yourselves  one  to  another, 
in  the  fear  of  God.  Wives,  submit  yourselves  unto  your 
own  husbands,  as  unto  the  Lord."t 

Colos.,  ch.  iii.  17.  "Whatsoever  ye  do,  in  word  or 
deed,  do  all  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  giving  thanks 
to  God  and  the  Father  by  him.  Wives,  submit  your- 
selves unto  your  own  husbands,  as  it  is  fit  in  the  Lord." J 

In  both  these  passages  submission  follows  giving  of 
thanks,  without  any  similitude  in  the  ideas  which  should 
account  for  the  transition. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  pursue  the  comparison  between 
the  two  epistles  farther.  The  argument  which  results 
from  it  stands  thus:  No  two  other  epistles  contain  a  cir- 
cumstance which  indicates  that  they  were  written  at  the 
same,  or  nearly  at  the  same,  time.  No  two  other  epis- 
tles exhibit  so  many  marks  of  correspondency  and  resem- 
blance.    If  the  original  which  we  ascribe  to  these  two 

*  Colos.,  chap,  iii.,  9.  M»?  ipevSeade  cts  aWrjXovs,  aTTeK5vcTa[.i£voi  tov  rcakaiov 
avdpoiiTov,  aw  rais  npa^eaiv  avTOv,Kat  evSvaa^svoi  tov  veov^  tov  avaKaivov[i£vov  cis 
eniyvdiaiv. 

t  Ephes.,  chap,  v.,  20,  21,  22.  IStVX^apiaTovvTCi  navTOTC  vnep  TravTWv,  ev  ovo- 
fiaTi  TOV  K.vpiov  mojv  Iriffov  Kptorov,  to)  Qew  Kai  naTpi,  iTTOTaaaoixevoi  aXXriXois  sv 
(po0(i>  Qeov.      At  yvi'atKff,  tois  iSiois  avSpaaiv  iiroTaaascrde  ug  tw  KvptM. 

+  Colos,,  chap,  iii.,  17.  Kat  nav  b,  ti  av  TTOtriTe,  sv  XoyWj  r/  ev  £py(i>^  rravTa 
£v  ovonuTi  K.vpiov  Iriaov,  ev^apiaTovvrei  rfJ  Geo)  Kat  Ttarpi  Si  avTOV.  'At  yvvaiKes, 
viroTaaaEcrBE  tois  iSioig  avdpaoiv,  wj  avrjKSv  sv  ^vpiM. 


144  THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    EPHESIANS.      ' 

epistles  be  the  true  one,  that  is,  if  they  were  both  really- 
written  by  St.  Paul,  and  both  sent  to  their  respective 
destination  by  the  same  messenger,  the  similitude  is,  in 
all  points,  what  should  be  expected  to  take  place.  If 
they  were  forgeries,  then  the  mention  of  Tychicus  in  both 
epistles,  and  in  a  manner  which  shows  that  he  either  car- 
ried or  accompanied  both  epistles,  was  inserted  for  the 
purpose  of  accounting  for  their  similitude  ;  or  else  the 
structure  of  the  epistles  was  designedly  adapted  to  the 
circumstance  :  or,  lastly,  the  conformity  between  the  con- 
tents of  the  forgeries  and  what  is  thus  directly  intimated 
concerning  their  date  was  only  a  happy  accident.  Not 
one  of  these  three  suppositions  will  gain  credit  with  a 
reader  who  peruses  the  epistles  with  attention,  and  who 
reviews  the  several  examples  we  have  pointed  out,  and 
the  observations  with  which  they  were  accompanied. 


No.  II. 

There  is  such  a  thing  as  a  pecuHar  word  or  phrase 
cleaving,  as  it  were,  to  the  memory  of  a  writer  or  speaker, 
and  presenting  itself  to  his  utterance  at  every  turn. 
When  we  observe  this,  we  call  it  a  cant  word,  or  a  cant 
phrase.  It  is  a  natural  effect  of  habit ;  and  would  appear 
more  frequently  than  it  does,  had  not  the  rules  of  good 
writing  taught  the  ear  to  be  offended  with  the  iteration  of 
the  same  sound,  and  oftentimes  caused  us  to  reject,  on  that 
account,  the  word  which  offered  itself  first  to  our  recol- 
lection. With  a  writer  who,  like  St.  Paul,  either  knew 
not  these  rules,  or  disregarded  them,  such  words  will  not 
be  avoided.  The  truth  is,  an  example  of  this  kind  runs 
through  several  of  his  epistles,  and  in  the  epistle  before 
us  abounds ;  and  that  is  in  the  word  riches  (nloviog),  used 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    EPHE3IANS.  145 

metaphorically  as  an  augmentative  of  the  idea  to  which 
it  happens  to  be  subjoined.  Thus,  "  the  riches  of  his 
glory  ;"  "  his  riches  in  glory  ;"  "  riches  of  the  glory  of  his 
inheritance  ;"  "  riches  of  the  glory  of  this  mystery  :"  Rom., 
ch.  ix.  23;  Ephes.,  ch.  iii.  16;  Ephes.,  eh.  i.  18;  Colos., 
ch.  i.  27 :  "  riches  of  his  grace,"  twice  in  the  Ephesians, 
ch.  i.  7.  and  ch.  ii.  7  ;  ^^  riches  of  the  full  assurance  of  un- 
derstanding," Colos.,  ch.  ii.  2;  ''riches  of  his  goodness," 
Rom.,  ch.  ii.  4 ;  "  riches  of  the  wisdom  of  God,"  Rom., 
ch.  xi.  33;  ^'riches  of  Christ,"  Ephes.,  iii.  8.  In  a  like 
sense  the  adjective,  Rom.,  ch.  x.  12,  ''rich  unto  all  that 
call  upon  him  ;"  Ephes.,  ch.  ii.  4,  "  rich  in  mercy;"  1 
Tim.,  ch.  vi.  18,  ''rich  in  good  works."  Also  the  ad- 
verb, Colos.,  ch.  iii.  16,  "let  the  work  of  Christ  dwell  in 
you  richly"  This  figurative  use  of  the  word,  though  so 
familiar  to  St.  Paul,  does  not  occur  in  any  part  of  the 
New  Testament,  except  once  in  the  Epistle  of  St.  James, 
ch.  ii.  5 ;  "  Hath  not  God  chosen  the  poor  of  this  world, 
rich  in  faith  ?"  where  it  is  manifestly  suggested  by  the 
antithesis.  I  propose  the  frequent,  yet  seemingly  unaf- 
fected, use  of  this  phrase,  in  the  epistle  before  us,  as  one 
internal  mark  of  its  genuineness. 


No.  III.      %  ... 

There  is  another  singularity  in  St.  Paul's  style,  which, 
wherever  it  is  found,  may  be  deemed  a  badge  of  authen- 
ticity ;  because,  if  it  were  noticed,  it  would  not,  I  think, 
be  imitated,  inasmuch  as  it  almost  always  produces  em- 
barrassment and  interruption  in  the  reasoning.  This  sin- 
gularity is  a  species  of  digression  which  may  properly,  I 
think,  be  denominated  going  off  at  a  word.  It  is  turning 
aside  from  the  subject  upon  the  occurrence  of  some  par- 


146  THE    El'ISTLE    TO    THE    EPHESIANS. 

ticular  word,  forsaking  the  train  of  thought  then  in  hand, 
and  entering  upon  a  parenthetic,  sentence  in  which  that 
word  is  the  prevailing  term.  I  shall  lay  before  the  reader 
some  examples  of  this,  collected  from  the  other  epistles, 
and  then  propose  two  examples  of  it  which  are  found  in 
the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians.  2  Cor.,  ch.  ii.  14,  at  the 
word  savor :  "  Now  thanks  be  unto  God,  which  always 
causeth  us  to  triumph  in  Christ,  and  maketh  manifest  the 
savor  of  his  knowledge  by  us  in  every  place,  (for  we  are 
unto  God  a  sweet  savor  of  Christ  in  them  that  are  saved, 
and  in  them  that  perish  ;  to  the  one  we  are  the  savor  of 
death  unto  death,  and  to  the  other  the  savor  of  life  unto 
life  ;  and  who  is  sufficient  for  these  things  ?)  For  we  are 
not  as  many  which  corrupt  the  w^ord  of  God,  but  as  of 
sincerity,  but  as  of  God  ;  in  the  sight  of  God  speak,  we  in 
Christ."  Again,  2  Cor.,  ch.  iii.  1,  at  the  word  epistle. 
*'Need  we,  as  some  others,  epistles  of  commendation  to 
you,  or  of  commendation  from  you  ?  (Ye  are  our  epistle 
written  in  our  hearts,  known  and  read  of  all  men ;  foras- 
much as  ye  are  manifestly  declared  to  be  the  epistle  of 
Christ,  ministered  by  us,  written  not  with  ink,  but  with 
the  Spirit  of  the  living  God  ;  not  in  tables  of  stone,  but 
in  the  fleshy  tables  of  the  heart.)"  The  position  of  the 
words  in  the  original  shows  more  strongly  than  in  the 
translation  that  it  was  the  occurrence  of  the  word  emoToXri 
which  gave  birth  to  the  sentence  that  follows :  2  Cor.,  ch. 

iii.  1.  El  i-irj  /Q7]^o^u€t',(hg  jivsg,  avaTanxojv  eniajo)My  Tigogvuag, 
»/  e|  {)/iib)y  avaraTiy.wv  ;  -^  sttiotoXi]  r]ub)v  {ifieig  fare,  syyeyquiJiuevi] 
Bv  Tuig  xuQdiaig  ri/nojv,  yircoaxoinevi]  xat  avuyit'Ooaxo/JEVT]  vno  nav- 
imv  avOqunoiv  (pavsqti^evoi  on  eaie  sttigtoXtj  Xqiotb  diaxovTjdeiaa 
{kP*  -^iitoiy,  eyyeyQa^fAevt]  s  fieXavi^  aXXa  nvsvfioctt,  Qeov  ^wMog-  8« 
sv  ttXu^i  XiQivaig^  aXV  ev  jiXa^i  xagdtag  craQXivaig, 

Again,  2  Cor.,  ch.  iii.  12,  &c.,  at  the  word  vail :  "See- 
ing then  that  we  have  such  hope,  we  use  great  plainness 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    EPHESIANS.  147 

of  speech  :  and  not  as  Moses,  which  put  a  vail  over  his 
face,  that  the  children  of  Israel  could  not  steadfastly  look 
to  the  end  of  that  which  is  abolished.  But  their  minds 
were  blinded  ;  for  until  this  day  remaineth  the  same  vail 
untaken  away  in  the  reading  of  the  Old  Testament,  which 
vail  is  done  away  in  Christ ;  but  even  unto  this  day,  when 
Moses  is  read,  the  vail  is  upon  their  heart :  nevertheless, 
when  it  shall  turn  to  the  Lord,  the  vail  shall  be  taken 
away  (now  th*e  Lord  is  that  Spirit ;  and  where  the  Spirit 
of  the  Lord  is,  there  is  liberty.)  But  we  all  with  open 
face,  beholding  as  in  a  glass  the  glory  of  the  Lord,  are 
changed  into  the  same  image  from  glory  to  glory,  even 
as  by  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord.  Therefore,  seeing  we  have 
this  ministry,  as  we  have  received  mercy,  we  faint  not." 

Who  sees,  not  that  this  whole  allegory  of  the  vail  arises 
entirely  out  of  the  occurrence  of  the  word,  in  telling  us 
that  "  Moses  put  a  vail  over  his  face,"  and  that  it  drew 
the  apostle  away  from  the  proper  subject  of  his  discourse, 
the  dignity  of  the  office  in  which  he  was  engaged  ;  which 
subject  he  fetches  up  again  almost  in  the  words  with 
which  he  had  left  it :  "  therefore,  seeing  that  we  have 
this  ministry,. as  we  have  received  mercy,  we  faint  not." 
The  sentence  which  he  had  before  been  going  on  with, 
and  in  which  he  had  been  interrupted  by  the  vail,  was, 
"  Seeing  then  that  we  have  such  hope,  we  use  great  plain- 
ness of  speech." 

In  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians,  the  reader  will  remark 
two  instances  in  which  the  same  habit  of  composition 
obtains  :  he  will  recognize  the  same  pen.  One  he  will 
find,  chap.  iv.  8 — 11,  at  the  word  ascended :  "  Wherefore 
he  saith.  When  he  ascended  up  on  high,  he  led  captivity 
captive,  and  gave  gifts  unto  men.  (Now  that  he  as- 
cended,  what  is  it  but  that  he  also  descended  first  unto 
the  lower  parts  of  the  earth  ?     He  that  descended  is  the 


148  THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE  EPHESIANS. 

same  alse  that  ascended  up  far  above  all  heavens,  that  he 
might  fill  all  things.)     And  he  gave  some  apostles,"  &c. 

The  other  appears,  chap.  v.  12 — 15,  at  the  word  light: 
**  For  it  is  a  shame  even  to  speak  of  those  things  which 
are  done  of  them  in  secret :  but  all  things  that  are  re- 
proved are  made  manifest  by  the  light :  for  whatsoever 
doth  make  manifest  is  light.  Wherefore  he  saith,  Awake, 
thou  that  sleepest,  and  arise  from  the  dead,  and  Christ 
shall  give  thee  light.  See  then  that  ye  walk  circum- 
spectly." 


No.  IV. 

Although  it  does  not  appear  to  have  ever  been  disputed 
that  the  epistle  before  us  was  written  by  St.  Paul,  yet  it 
is  well  known  that  a  doubt  has  long  been  entertained 
concerning  the  persons  to  whom  it  was  addressed.  The 
question  is  founded  partly  in  some  ambiguity  in  the  ex- 
ternal evidence.  Marcion,  a  heretic  of  the  second  cen- 
tury, as  quoted  by  Tertullian,  a  father  in  the  beginning 
of  the  third,  calls  it  the  Epistle  to  the  Laodiceans.  From 
what  we  know  of  Marcion,  his  judgment  is  little  to  be 
relied  upon ;  nor  is  it  perfectly  clear  that  Marcion  was 
rightly  understood  by  Tertullian.  If,  however,  Marcion 
be  brought  to  prove  that  some  copies  in  his  time  gave  ev 
Aaodinsia  m  the  superscription,  his  testimony,  if  it  be  truly 
interpreted,  is  not  diminished  by  his  heresy  ;  for,  as  Gro- 
tius  observes,  ''cur  ifiea  re  mentiretur  nihil  erat  causes. 
The  name  ev  Eq,so(d,  iriThe  first  verse,  upon  which  word 
singly  depends  the  proof  that  the  epistle  was  written  to 
the  Ephesians,  is  not  read  in  all  the  manuscripts  now  ex- 
tant. I  admit,  however,  that  the  external  evidence  pre- 
ponderates with  a  manifest  excess  on  the  side  of  the  re- 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    EPHESIANS.  149 

ceived  reading.  The  objection,  therefore,  .principally 
arises  from  the  contents  of  the  epistle  itself,  which,  in 
many  respects,  militate  with  the  supposition  that  it  was 
written  to  ttie  church  of  Ephesus.  According  to  the  his- 
tory, St.  Paul  had  passed  two  whole  years  at  Ephesus, 
Acts,  ch.  xix.  10.  And  in  this  point,  viz.  of  St.  Paul  hav- 
ing preached  for  a  considerable  length  of  time  at  Ephe- 
sus, the  history  is  confirmed  by  the  two  Epistles  to  the 
Corinthians,  and  by  the  two  Epistles  to  Timothy.  •'  I  will 
tarry  at  Ephesus  until  Pentecost,"  1  Cor.  ch.  xvi.  ver.  8. 
*'  We  would  not  have  you  ignorant  of  our  trouble  which 
came  to  us  in  Asia,''  2  Cor.,  ch.  i.  8.  "  As  I  besought 
thee  to  abide  still  at  Ephesus,  when  I  went  into  Macedo- 
nia," 1  Tim.,  ch.  i.  3.  "  And  in  how  many  things  he  min- 
istered unto  me  at  Ephesus  thou  knowest  well,"  2  Tim., 
ch.  i.  18.  I  adduce  these  testimonies,  because,  had  it 
been  a  competition  of  credit  between  the  history  and  the 
epistle,  I  should  have  thought  myself  bound  to  have  pre- 
ferred the  epistle.  Now,  every  epistle  which  St.  Paul 
v/rote  to  churches  which  he  himself  had  founded,  or 
which  he  had  visited,  abounds  with  references,  and  ap- 
peals to  what  had  passed  during  the  time  that  he  was 
present  amongst  them  ;  whereas,  there  is  not  a  text  in 
the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians  from  which  we  can  collect 
that  he  had  ever  been  at  Ephesus  at  all.  The  two  Epis- 
tles to  the  Corinthians,  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians,  the 
Epistle  to  the  Philippians,  and  the  two  Epistles  to  the 
Thessalonians,  are  of  this  class  ;  and  they  are  full  of  al- 
lusions to  the  apostle's  history,  his  reception,  and  his  con- 
duct whilst  amongst  them  ;  the  total  want  of  which,  in  the 
epistle  before  us,  is  very  difficult  to  account  for,  if  it  was 
in  truth  written  to  the  church  of  Ephesus,  in  which  city 
he  had  resided  for  so  long  a  time.  This  is  the  first  and 
strongest  objection.     But  farther,  the  Epistle  to  the  Co- 


150  THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE  EPHESIANS. 

lossians  was  addressed  to  a  church  in  which  St.  Paul  had 
never  been.  This  we  infer  from  the  first  verse  of  the 
second  chapter:  "for  I  would  that  ye  knew  what  great 
conflict  I  have  for  you  and  for  them  at  LaodiCea,  and  for 
as  many  as  have  not  seen  my  face  in  the  flesh."  There 
could  be  no  propriety  in  thus  joining  the  Colossians  and 
Laodiceans  with  those  "  who  had  not  seen  his  face  in  the 
flesh,"  if  they  did  not  also  belong  to  the  same  description.* 
Now,  his  address  to  the  Colossians,  whom  he  had  not 
visited,  is  precisely  the  same  as  his  address  to  the  Chris- 
tians to  whom  he  wrote  in  the  epistle  which  we  are 
now  considering :  ''  We  give  thanks  to  God  and  the 
Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  praying  always  for  you, 
since  we  heard  of  your  faith  in  Christ  Jesus,  and  of  the 
love  which  ye  have  to  all  the  saints,"  Colos.,  ch.  i.  3. 
Thus,  he  speaks  to  the  Ephesians,  in  the  epistle  before  us, 
as  follows  :  "  Wherefore  I  also,  after  I  heard  of  your  faith 
in  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  love  unto  all  the  saints,  cease  not 
to  give  thanks  for  you  in  my  prayers,"  ch.  i.  15.  The 
terms  of  this  address  are  observable.  The  words,  "hav- 
ing heard  of  your  faith  and  love,"  are  the  very  words,  we 
see,  which  he  uses  towards  strangers  ;  and  it  is  not  prob- 
able that  he  should  employ  the  same  in  accosting  a  church 
in  which  he  had  long  exercised  his  ministry,  and  whose 
*'  faith  and  love"  he  must  have  personally  known.f     The 

*  Dr.  Lardner  contends  against  the  validity  of  this  conclusion;  but,  I 
think,  without  success.     Lardner,  vol.  xiv.  p.  473.  edit.  1757. 

■f  Mr.  Locke  endeavors  to  avoid  this  difficulty,  by  explaining  "  their  faith^ 
of  which  St.  Paul  had  heard,"  to  mean  the  steadfastness  of  their  persuasion 
that  they  were  called  into  the  kingdom  of  God,  without  subjection  to  the 
Mosaic  institution.  But  this  interpretation  seems  to  be  extremely  hard ;  for, 
in  the  manner  in  which  faith  is  here  joined  with  love,  in  the  expression, 
"  your  faith  and  love,"  it  could  not  be  meant  to  denote  any  particular  tenet 
which  distinguished  one  set  of  Christians  from  others ;  forasmuch  as  the 
expression  describes  the  general  virtues  of  the  Christian  profession. — Vide 
Locke  in  loc. 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    EPHESIANS.  151 

Epistle  to  the  Romans  was  written  before  •St.  Paul  had 
been  at  Rome ;  and  his  address  to  them  runs  in  the  same 
strain  with  that  just  now  quoted  :  "  I  thank  my  God 
through  Jesus  Christ,  for  you  all,  that  your  faith  is  spoken 
of  through  the  whole  world  :"  Rom.,  ch.  i.  8.  Let  us 
now  see  what  was  the  form  in  which  our  apostle  was  ac- 
customed to  introduce  his  epistles,  when  he  wrote  to  those 
with  whom  he  was  already  acquainted.  To  the  Corin- 
thians, it  was  this  :  "  I  thank  my  God  always  in  your  be- 
half, for  the  grace  of  God  which  is  given  you  by  Christ 
Jesus  :"  1  Cor.,  ch.  i.  4.  To  the  Philippians  :  *'  I  thank 
my  God  upon  every  remembrance  of  you :"  Phil.,  ch.  i.  3. 
To  the  Thessalonians :  We  give  thanks  to  God  always  for 
you  all,  making  mention  of  you  in  our  prayers,  remem- 
bering without  ceasing  your  work  of  faith,  and  labor  of 
love :"  1  Th'is.,  ch.  i.  3.  To  Timothy :  ''  I  thank  God, 
whom  I  serve  from  my  forefathers  with  pure  conscience, 
that  without  ceasing  I  have  remembrance  of  thee  in  my 
prayers  night  and  day :"  2  Tim.,  ch.  i.  3.  In  these  quo- 
tations, it  is  ajsuaUy  his  remembrance,  and  neyer-iHS  hear- 
ing, of  them,  which  he  makes  the  subject  of  his  thankful- 
ness to  God. 

As  great  difficulties  stand  in  the  way,  supposing  the 
epistle  before  us  to  have  been  written  to  the  church  of 
Ephesus,  so  I  think  it  probable  that  it  is  actually  the  Epis- 
tle to  the  Laodiceans,  referred  to  in  the  fourth  chapter  of 
the  Epistle  to  the  Colossians.  The  text  which  contains 
that  reference  is  this:  "When  this  epistle  is  read  among 
you,  cause  that  it  be  read  also  in  the  church  of  the  Laodi- 
ceans, and  that  ye  likewise  read  the  epistle  from  Laodi- 
cea,"  ch.  iv.  16.  The  "  epistle /ro7?2  Loadicea"  was  an 
epistle  sent  by  St.  Paul  to  that  church,  and  by  them  trans- 
mitted to  Colosse.  The  two  churches  were  mutually  to 
communicate  the  epistles  they  had  received.     This  is  the 


152  THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    EPHESIANS. 

way  in  which  the  direction  is  explained  by  the  greater 
part  of  commentators,  and  is  the  most  probable  sense 
that  can  be  given  to  it.  It  is  also  probable  that  the  epis- 
tle jalluded  to  was  an  epistle  which  had  been  received  by 
the  church  of  Laodicea  lately.  It  appears  then,  with  a 
considerable  degree  of  evidence,  that  there  existed  an 
epistle  of  St.  Paul's  nearly  of  the  same  date  with  the 
Epistle  to  the  Colossians,  and  an  epistle  directed  to  a 
church  (for  such  the  church  of  Laodicea  was,)  in  which 
St.  Paul  had  never  been.  What  has  been  observed  con- 
cerning the  epistle  before  us  shows  that  it  answers  per- 
fectly to  that  character. 

Nor  does  the  mistake  seem  very  difficult  to  account 
for.  Whoever  inspects  the  map  of  Asia  Minor  will  see 
that  a  person  proceeding  from  Rome  to  Laodicea  would 
probably  land  at  Ephesus,  as  the  nearest  frequented  sea- 
port in  that  direction.  Might  not  Tychicus  then,  in  pass- 
ing through  Ephesus,  communicate  to  the  Christians  of 
that  place  the  letter  with  which  he  was  charged?  And 
might  not  copies  of  that  letter  be  multiplied  and  preserved 
at  Ephesus?  Might  not  some  of  the  copies  drop  the 
words  of  designation  ^v  rr^  Aaodinsiq*  which  it  was  of  no 

*  And  it  is  remarkable  that  there  seem  to  have  been  some  ancient  copies 
without  the  words  of  designation,  either  the  words  in  Ephesus,  or  the  words 
in  Laodicea.  St.  Basil,  a  writer  of  the  fourth  century,  speaking  of  the  pre- 
sent epistle,  has  this  very  singular  passage  :  "  And  writing  to  the  Ephesians, 
as  truly  united  to  him  who  is  through  knowledge,  he  (Paul)  calleth  them 
in  a  peculiar  sense,  such  who  are ;  saying  to  tJw  saints  who  are  and  (or  even) 
t/ie  faithful  in  Christ  Jesus ;  for  so  those  before  us  have  transmitted  it,  and 
we  have  found  it  in  ancient  copies."  Dr.  Mill  interprets  (and  notwith- 
standing some  objections  that  have  been  made  to  him,  in  my  opinion  rightly 
interprets)  these  words  of  Basil,  as  declaring  that  this  father  had  seen  cer- 
tain copies  of  the  epistle  in  which  the  words,  "  ia  Ephesus,"  were  wanting. 
And  the  passage,  I  think,  must  be  considered  as  Basil's  finciful  way  of  ex- 
plaining what  was  really  a  corrupt  and  defective  reading ;  for  I  do  not  be- 
lieve it  possible  that  the  author  of  the  epistle  could  have  originally  written 
oytoij  Toii  uaivy  without  any  name  of  place  to  follow  it. 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    EPHESIANS.  153 

consequence  to  an  Ephesian  to  retain  ?  Might  not  copies 
of  the  letter  come  out  into  the  Christian  church  at  large 
from  Ephesus  ;  and  might  not  this  give  occasion  to  a  be- 
lief tha't  the  letter  was  written  to  that  church?  And, 
lastly,  might  not  this  belief  produce  the  error  which  we 
suppose  to  hav^  crept  into  the  inscription  ? 


No.  V. 

As  our  epistle  purports  to  have  been  written  during  St. 
Paul's  imprisonment  at  Rome,  which  lies  beyond  the  pe- 
riod to  which  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  brings  up  his  his- 
tory ;  and  as  we  have  seen  and  acknowledged  that  the 
epistle  contains  no  reference  to  any  transaction  at  Ephe- 
sus  during  the  apostle's  residence  in  that  city,  we  cannot 
expect  that  it  should  supply  many  marks  of  agreement 
with  the  narrative.  One  coincidence  however  occurs, 
and  a  coincidence  of  that  minute  and  less  obvious  kind, 
which,  as  hath  been  repeatedly  observed,  is  of  all  others 
the  most  to  be  relied  upon. 

Chap.  vi.  19,  20,  we  read,  *'  praying  for  me,  that  I  may 
open  my  mouth  boldly,  to  make  known  the  mystery  of 
the  Gospel,  for  which  I  am  an  ambassador  in  bonds." 
"/%  bonds,""  sv  dlvoet,  in  a  chain.  In  the  twenty-eighth 
chapter  of  the  Acts  we  are  informed  that  Paul,  after  his 
arrival  at  Rome,  was  suffered  to  dwell  by  himself  with  a 
soldier  that  kept  him.  Dr.  Lardner  has  shown  that  this 
mode  of  custody  was  in  use  amongst  the  Romans,  and 
that,  whenever  it  was  adopted,  the  prisoner  was  bound  to 
the  soldier  by  a  single  chain :  in  reference  to  which  St. 
Paul,  in  the  twentieth  verse  of  this  chapter,  tells  the  Jews, 
whom  he  had  assembled,  "  For  this  cause  therefore  have 
I  called  for  you  to  see  you,  and  to  speak  with  you,  be- 

7* 


n 


154  THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE  EPHESIANS. 

cause  that  for  the  hope  of  Israel  I  am  bound  with  this 
chain^^  tij^  dXvac>^  javirjv  nsQtxei/Ltah.  It  is  in  exact  con- 
formity, therefore,  with  the  truth  of  St.  Paul's  situation  at 
the  time,  that  he  declares  of  himself  in  the  epistle,  nQeaSevo) 
Ev  dXvaei.  And  the  exactness  is  the  more  remarkable,  as 
dkvaig  (a  chain)  is  nowhere  used  in  the  sijigular  number 
to  express  any  other  kind  of  custody.  When  the  pris- 
oner's hands  or  feet  were  bound  together,  the  word  was 
deajiioi  (bonds),  as  in  the  twenty-sixth  chapter  of  the  Acts, 
where  Paul  replies  to  Agrippa,  "  I  would  to  God  that  not 
only  thou,  but  also  all  that  hear  me  this  day,  were  both 
almost  and  altogether  such  as  I  am,  except  these  bonds," 
naQsxTog  T(av  deaf/cjv  xovjoiv.  When  the  prisoner  was  con- 
fined between  two  soldiers,  as  in  the  case  of  Peter, 
Acts,  chap.  xii.  6,  two  chains  were  employed ;  and  it  is 
said  upon  his  miraculous  deliverance,  that  the  "  chains" 
(aXvaeig^  in  the  plural)  "  fell  from  his  hands."  deafiog^  the 
noun,  and  deqf^ai  the  verb,  being  general  terms,  were  ap- 
pUcable  to  this  in  common  with  any  other  species  of  per- 
sonal coercion  ;  but  dlvuig^  in  the  singular  number,  to  none 
but  this. 

If  it  can  be  suspected  that  the  writer  of  the  present 
epistle,  who  in  no  other  particular  appears  to  have  availed 
himself  of  the  information  concerning  St.  Paul  delivered 
in  the  Acts,  had,  in  this  verse  borrowed  the  word  which 
he  read  in  that  book,  and  had  adapted  his  expression  to 
what  he  found  there  recorded  of  St.  Paul's  treatment  at 
Rome ;  in  short,  that  the  coincidence  here  noted  was  af- 
fected by  craft  and  design ;  I  think  it  a  strong  reply  to 
remark  that,  in  the  parallel  passage  of  the  Epistle  to  the 
Colossians,  the  same  allusion  is  not  preserved  ;  the  words 
there  are,  "  praying  also  for  us,  that  God  would  open 
unto  us  a  door  of  utterance  to  speak  the  mystery  of  Christ, 
for  which  /  am  also  in  bonds,^'  dl  6  xourdeofiat.     After  what 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE     EPHESIANS.  155 

has  been  shown  in  a  preceding  number,  there  can  be  lit- 
tle doubt  but  that  these  two  epistles  were  written  by  the 
same  person.  If  the  writer,  therefore,  sought  for,  and 
fraudulently  inserted  the  correspondency  into  one  epis- 
tle, why  did  he  not  do  it  in  the  other  ?  A  real  prisoner 
might  use  either  general  words  which  comprehended  this 
amongst  many  other  modes  of  custody  ;  or  might  use  ap- 
propriate words  which  specified  this,  and  distinguished  it 
from  any  other  mode.  It  would  be  accidental  which 
form  of  expression  he  fell  upon.  But  an  impostor,  who 
had  the  art,  in  one  place,  to  employ  the  appropriate  term 
for  the  purpose  of  fraud,  would  have  used  it  in  both  places. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE  PHILIPPIANS. 

No.    I. 

When  a  transaction  is  referred  to  in  such  a  manner  as 
that  the  reference  is  easily  and  immediately  understood 
by  those  who  are  beforehand,  or  from  other  quarters,  ac- 
quainted with  the  fact,  but  is  obscure,  or  imperfect,  or  re- 
quires investigation,  or  a  comparison  of  different  parts,  in 
order  to  be  made  clear  to  other  readers,  the  ti'ansaction 
so  referred  to  is  probably  real  ;  because,  had  it  been  fic- 
titious, the  writer  would  have  set  forth  his  story  more 
fully  and  plainly,  not  merely  as  conscious  of  the  fiction, 
but  as  conscious  that  his  readers  could  have  no  other 
knowledge  of  the  subject  of  his  allusion  than  from  the  in- 
formation of  which  he  put  them  in  possession. 

The  account  of  Epaphroditus,  in  the  Epistle  to  the 
Philippians,  of  his  journey  to  Rome,  and  of  the  business 
which  brought  him  thither,  is  the  article  to  which  I  mean 
to  apply  this  observation.  There  are  three  passages  in 
the  epistle  which  relate  to  this  subject.  The  first,  chap. 
i.  7 :  "  Even  as  it  is  meet  for  me  to  think  this  of  you  all, 
because  I  have  you  in  my  heart,  inasmuch  as  both  in  my 
bonds,  and  in  the  defence  and  confirmation  of  the  Gospel, 
ye  all  are  ovyxoivojyot  fxa  xTjg  xaonog,  joint  contributors  to 
the  gift  which  I  have  received."*     Nothing  more  is  said 

*  Pearce,  I  believe,  was  the  first  commentator  who  gave  this  sense  to  the 
expression  ;  and  I  believe,  also,  that  his  exposition  is  now  generally  assented 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    PHILIPPiANS.  157 

in  this  place.  In  the  latter  part  of  the  second  chapter, 
and  at  the  distance  of  half  the  epistle  from  the  last  quota- 
tion, the  subject  appears  again ;  "  Yet  I  supposed  it  ne- 
cessary to  send  to  you  Epaphroditus,  my  brother  and 
companion  in  labor,  and  fellow-soldier,  but  your  messen- 
ger, and  he  that  ministered  to  my  wants :  for  he  longed 
after  you  all,  and  was  full  of  heaviness,  because  that  ye 
had  heard  that  he  had  been  sick :  for  indeed  he  was  sick 
nigh  unto  death ;  but  God  had  mercy  on  him,  and  not  on 
him  only,  but  on  me  also,  lest  I  should  have  sorrow  upon 
sorrow.  I  sent  him  therefore  the  more  carefully,  that 
when  ye  see  him  again  ye  may  rejoice,  and  that  I  may 
be  the  less  sorrowful.  Receive  him  therefore  in  the  Lord 
with  all  gladness ;  and  hold  such  in  reputation ;  because 
for  the  work  of  Christ  he  was  nigh  unto  death,  not  re- 
garding his  life  to  supply  your  lack  of  service  towar^d  me  ;" 
chap.  ii.  25 — 30.  The  matter  is  here  dropped,  and  no 
farther  mention  made  of  it  till  it  is  taken  up  near  the  con- 
clusion of  the  epistle  as  follows:  "But  I  rejoice  in  the 
Lord  greatly,  that  now  at  the  last  your  care  of  me  hath 
flourished  again,  wherein  ye  were  also  careful,  but  ye 
lacked  opportunity.  Not  that  I  speak  in  respect  of 
want ;  for  I  have  learned,  in  whatsoever  state  I  am, 
therewith  to  be  content.  I  know  both  how  to  be  abased, 
and  I  know  how  to  abound :  everywhere,  and  in  all 
things,  I  am  instructed  both  to  be  full  and  to  be  hungry, 
both  to  abound,  and  to  suffer  need.  I  can  do  all  things 
through  Christ,  which  strengtheneth  me.  Notwithstand- 
ing, ye  have  well  done  that  ye  did  communicate  with  my 
affliction.     Now,  ye  Philippians,  know,  also,  that  in  the 

to.  He  interprets  in  the  same  sense  the  phrase  in  the  fifth  verse,  which  our 
translation  renders  "your  fellowship  in  the  Gospel;"  but  which  in  the  orig- 
inal is  not  KOivwvin  Tov  EuayyfAtov,  or  KotvcovtoL  ev  rw  EvayysXiM,  but  Koivwvio.  cis 
TO  EuayyeXioi'. 


158  THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    PHILIPPIANS. 

beginning  of  the  Gospel,  when  I  departed  from  Macedo- 
nia, no  church  communicated  with  me,  as  concerning 
giving  and  receiving,  but  ye  only.  For  even  in  Thessa- 
lonica  ye  sent  once  and  again  unto  my  necessity.  Not 
because  I  desire  a  gift ;  but  I  desire  fruit  that  may  abound 
to  your  account.  But  I  have  all,  and  abound  :  I  am  full, 
having  received  of  Epaphroditus  the  things  which  were 
sent  from  you  :"  chap.  iv.  10 — 18.  To  the  Philippian 
reader,  who  knew  that  contributions  were  wont  to  be  made 
in' that  church  for  the  apostle's  subsistence  and  relief,  that 
the  supply  which  they  were  accustomed  to  send  to  him 
had  been  delayed  by  the  want  of  opportunity,  that 
Epaphroditus  had  undertaken  the  charge  of  conveying 
their  liberality  to  the  hands  of  the  apostle,  that  he  had  ac- 
quitted himself  of  this  commission  at  the  peril  of  his  life, 
by  hastening  to  Rome  under  the  oppression  of  a  grievous 
sickness  ;  to  a  reader  who  knew  all  this  beforehand,  every 
line  in  the  above  quotations  would  be  plain  and  clear. 
But  how  is  it  with  a  stranger  ?  The  knowledge  of  these 
several  particulars  is  necessary  to  the  perception  and  ex- 
planation -of  the  references ;  yet  that  knowledge  must  be 
gathered  from  a  comparison  of  passages  lying  at  a  great 
distance  from  one  another.  Texts  must  be  interpreted 
by  texts  long  subsequent  to  them,  which  necessarily  pro- 
duces embarrassment  and  suspense.  The  passage  quoted 
from  the  beginning  of  the  epistle  contains  an  acknowl- 
edgment, on  the  part  of  the  apostle,  of  the  liberality  which 
the  Philippians  had  exercised  towards  him ;  but  the  al- 
lusion is  so  general  and  indeterminate  that,  had  nothing 
more  been  said  in  the  sequel  of  the  epistle,  it  would  hardly 
have  been  applied  to  this  occasion  at  all.  In  the  sec- 
ond quotation,  Epaphroditus  is  declared  to  have  "minis- 
tered to  the  apostle's  wants,"  and  "  to  have  supplied  their 
lack  of  service  towards  him  ;  but  Jwio,  that  is,  at  whose 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    PHILIPPIANS.  159 

expense,  or  from  what  fund  he  "  ministered,"  or  what  was 
"the  lack  of  service  which  he  supplied,"  are  left  very- 
much  unexplained,  till  we  arrive  at  the  third  quotation, 
where  we  find  that  Epaphroditus  "  ministeretl  to  St. 
Paul's  wants,"  only  by  conveying  to  his  hands  the  contri- 
butions of  the  Philippians ;  "  I  am  full,  having  received 
of  Epaphroditus  the  things  which  were  sent  from  you ;" 
and  that  "the  lack  of  service  which  he  supplied"  was  a 
delay  or  interruption  of  their  accustomed  bounty,  occa- 
sioned by  the  want  of  opportunity :  "  I  rejoiced  in  the 
Lord  greatly  that  now  at  the  last  your  care  of  me  hath 
flourished  again ;  wherein  ye  were  also  careful,  but  ye 
lacked  opportunity."  The  afl^air  at  length  comes  out 
clear,  but  it  comes  out  by  piecemeal.  The  clearness  is 
the  result  of  the  reciprocal  illustration  of  divided  texts. 
Should  any  one  choose  therefore  to  insinuate  that  this 
whole  story  of  Epaphroditus,  or  his  journey,  his  errand, 
his  sickness,  or  even  his  existence,  might,  for  what  we 
know,  have  no  other  foundation  than  in  the  invention  of 
the  forger  of  the  epistle ;  I  answer,  that  a  forger  w^ould 
have  set  forth  his  story  connectedly,  and  also  more  fully 
and  more  perspicuously.  If  the  epistle  be  authentic,  and 
the  transaction  real,  then  every  thing  which  is  said  con- 
cerning Epaphroditus,  and  his  commission,  would  be  clear 
to  those  into  whose  hands  the  epistle  was  expected  to 
come.  Considering  the  Philippians  as  his  readers,  a  per- 
son might  naturally  write  upon  the  subject,  as  the  author 
of  the  epistle  has  written ;  but  there  is  no  supposition  of 
forgery  with  which  it  will  suit. 

No.   II. 

The  history  of  Epaphroditus  supplies  another  observa- 
tion :  "  Indeed   he   was  sick,  nigh  unto  death  ;  but  God 


160  THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    PHILIPPIANS. 

had  mercy  on  him,  and  not  on  him  only,  but  on  me  also 
lest  I  should  have  sorrow  upon  sorrow."  In  this  passage, 
no  intimation  is  given  that  Epaphroditus's  recovery  was 
miraculo*us.  It  is  plainly,  I  think,  spoken  of  as  a  natural 
event.  This  instance,  together  with  one  in  the  Second 
Epistle  to  Timothy  ("  Trophimus  have  I  left  at  Miletum 
sick/')  afFoi'ds  a  proof  that  the  power  of  performing  cures, 
and,  by  parity  of  reason,  of  working  other  miracles,  was 
a  power  which  only  visited  the  apostles  occasionally,  and 
did  not  at  all  depend  upon  their  own  will.  Paul  undoubt- 
edly would  have  healed  Epaphroditus  if  he  could.  Nor, 
if  the  power  of  working  cures  had  awaited  his  disposal, 
would  he  have  left  his  fellow-traveller  at  Miletum  sick. 
This,  I  think,  is  a  fair  observation  upon  the  instances  ad- 
duced ;  but  it  is  not  the  observation  I  am  concerned  to 
make.  It  is  more  for  the  purpose  of  my  argument  to 
remark  that  forgery,  upon  such  an  occasion,  would  not 
have  spared  a  miracle ;  much  less  would  it  have  intro- 
duced St.  Paul  professing  the  utmost  anxiety  for  the  safety 
of  his  friend,  yet  acknowledging  himself  unable  to  help 
him  ;  which  he  does,  almost  expressly,  in  the  case  of 
Trophimus,  for  he  "  left  him  sick  ;"  and  virtually  in  the 
passage  before  us,  in  which  he  felicitates  himself  upon 
the  recovery  of  Epaphroditus,  in  terms  which  almost  ex- 
clude the  supposition  of  any  supernatural  means  being 
employed  to  effect  it.  This  is  a  reserve  which  nothing 
but  truth  would  have  imposed. 


No.  III. 

Chap.  iv.  15,  16.  "Now,  ye  Philippians,  know,  also, 
that  in  the  beginning  of  the  Gospel,  when  I  departed  from 
Macedonia,  no  church   communicated  with  me,  as  con- 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    PHILIPPIANS.  161 

cerning  giving  and  receiving,  but  ye  only.  For  even  in 
Thessalonica  ye  sent  once  and  again  unto  my  necessity.' 

It  will  be  necessary  to  state  the  Greek  of  this  passage, 
because  our  translation  does  not,  I  think,  give  the  sense 
of  it  accurately. 

OtduiB  de  xai  i^ueig,  fpiXmnTjaiot,  on  sv  cxg^r]  t«  Evayyelia,  ore 
e^rjldov  ano  MayteSoviag^  ede/nia  fiiot  exxlrjaiu  exoivojt'Tjaep,  eig 
Xoyor  doaecog  xut  Xijtpeojg,  ei  /ui]  \)/itEtg  fiopor  on  xai  bp  QeaaalovLxr^ 
xai  u/ial  xat  dig  eig  tijv  xQ^*-^^  f^^''  STie^ipaTe. 

The  reader  w^ill  please  to  direct  his  attention  to  the  cor- 
responding partiG»i*tt8-oTi  and  on  xai,  which  connect  the 

words   sp  (xQx.ri  xa  Evayyelis,  bte  b^tjIOov  ano  MaxEdopiag,  with 

the  words  sv  Qeaoalovlxr^,  and  denote,  as  I  interpret  the 
passage,  two  distinct  donations,  or  rather,  donations  at 
two  distinct  periods,  one  at  Thessalonica,  unu^  xui  dig,  the 
other  after  his  departure  from  Macedonia,  6is  s^rjXdov  ano 
MaxBdoviag*  I  would  render  the  passage,  so  as  to  mark 
these  different  periods,  thus  :  "  Now,  ye  Philippians,  know, 
also,  that  in  the  beginning  of  the  Gospel,  when  I  w,as  de- 
parted from  Macedonia,  no  church  comnTunicated  with 
me,  as  concerning  giving  and  receiving,  but  ye  only. 
And  that  also  in  Thessalonica  ye  sent  once  and  again  unto 
my  necessity."  Now,  with  this  exposition  of  the  passage, 
compare  2  Cor.,  chap.  xi.  8,  9  :  "I  robbed  other  churches, 
taking  wages  of  them  to  do  you  service.  And  when  I 
was  present  with  you,  and  wanted,  I  was  chargeable  to 
no  man  ;  for  that  which  was  lacking  to  me  the  brethren 
which  came  from  Macedonia  supplied." 

*  Luke,  chap,  ii.,  15.  Kat  tyzvzro,  wj  anriXdov  an  avrav  eig  tov  ovpavop  ol 
ayycXoi,  "  as  the  angels  were  gone  away,"  i.  e.,  after  their  departure,  hi  iroi- 
liEvei  etiTov  iTpos  aXXjjXovj.  Matt.,  chap,  xii.,  43.  'Orai/  Se  to  OKudapTov  KVEv^a 
E^t\Or)  ano  TOV  avBownov,  when  the  unclean  spirit  is  gone,  i.e.,  after  his  de- 
parture, j££j9Y£ra«.  John,  chap,  xiii.,  30.  'Ors  e^riKBe  (lov5:ii)  "when  he 
was  gone,  i.  e.,  after  his  departure,  \<:yci  Ir/aouj.  Acts,  chap,  x.,  7,  w?  6e  anrfK- 
Oiv  0  ayytk'^i  o  \i\'mv  tw  K)pt.'r,\tM,  "  and  when  the  angel  which  spake  unto 
him  was  departed,"  i.  e.  after  his  departure,  cpcovijoras  6vo  tcov  oiketuv,  &c. 


162  THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    PHILIPPIANS. 

It  appears  from  St.  Paul's  history,  as  related  in  the  Acts 
of  the  Apostles,  that,  upon  leaving  Macedonia,  he  passed, 
after  a  very  short  stay  at  Athens,  into  Achaia.  It  ap- 
pears, secondly,  from  the  quotation  out  of  the  Epistle  to 
the  Corinthians,  that  in  Achaia  he  accepted  no  pecuniary 
assistance  from  the  converts  of  that  country ;  but  that  he 
drew  a  supply  for  his  wants  from  the  Macedonian  Chris- 
tians. Agreeably  whereunto  it  appears,  in  the  third 
place,  from  the  text  which  is  the  subject  of  the  present 
number,  that  the  brethren  in  Philippi,  a  city  of  Macedo- 
nia, had  followed  him  with  their  munificence,  ore  etrjldov 
txno  3lu}<8doviacj  when  he  was  departed  from  Maceuonia, 
that  is,  when  he  came  into  Achaia. 

The  passage  under  consideration  affords  another  cir- 
cumstance of  agreement  deserving  of  our  notice.  The 
gift  alluded  to  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Philippians  is  stated 
to  have  been  made  "  in  the  beginning  of  the  Gospel." 
This  phrase  is  most  naturally  explained  to  signify  the 
first  preaching  of  the  Gospel  in  these  parts ;  viz.  on  that 
side  of  the  iEgean  Sea.  The  succors  referred  to  in  the 
Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  as  received  from  Macedonia, 
are  stated  to  have  been  received  by  him  upon  his  first 
visit  to  the  peninsula  of  Greece.  The  dates  therefore 
assigned  to  the  donation  in  the  two  epistles  agree ;  yet, 
is  the  date  in  one  ascertained  very  incidentally,  namely, 
by  the  considerations  which  fix  the  date  of  the  epistle 
itself;  and  in  the  other  by  an  expression  (''the  beginning 
of  the  Gospel")  much  too  general  to  have  been  used  if 
the  text  had  been  penned  with  any  view  to  the  corres- 
pondency we  are  remarking. 

Farther,  the  phrase,  "  in  the  beginning  of  the  Gospel," 
raises  an  idea  in  the  reader's  mind  that  the  Gospel  had 
been  preached  there  more  than  once.  The  writer  would 
hardly  have  called  the  visit  to  which  he  refers  the  "  begin- 


THE    EPffeTLE    TO    THE    PHII.IPPIANS.  163 

ning  of  the  Gospel,"  if  he  had  not  also  visited  them  in 
some  other  stage  of  it.  The  fact  corresponds  witli  this 
idea.  If  we  consult  the  sixteenth  and  twentieth  chapters 
of  the  Acts,  we  shall  find  that  St.  Paul,  before  his  impris- 
onment at  Rome,  during  which/  this  epistle  purports  to 
have  been  w^ritten,  had  been  twice  in  Macedonia,  and  each 
time  at  Philippi. 


No.  IV. 

That  Timothy  had  been  long  with  St.  Paul  at  Philippi 
is  a  fact  which  seems  to  be  implied  in  this  epistle  twice. 
First  he  joins  in  the  salutation  with  which  the  epistle 
opens :  "  Paul  and  Timotheus,  the  servants  of  Jesus 
Christ,  to  all  the  saints  in  Christ  Jesus  which  are  at  Phi- 
lippi." Secondly  and  more  directly,  the  point  is  inferred 
from  what  is  said  concerning  him,  chap.  ii.  19:  "But  I 
trust  in  the  Lord  Jesus  to  send  Timotheus  shortly  unto 
you,  that  I  also  may  be  (>f  good  comfort  when  I  know 
your  state ;  for  I  have  no  man  like  minded  who  will  nat- 
urally care  for  your  state ;  for  all  seek  their  own,  not  the 
things  which  are  Jesus  Christ's  ;  but  ye  know  the  proof  of 
him,  that  as  a  son  with  the  father  he  hath  served  with  me 
in  the  Gospel."  Had  Timothy's  presence  w^ith  St.  Paul 
at  Philippi,  when  he  preached  the  Gospel  there,  been  ex- 
pressly remarked  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  this  quota- 
tion might  be  thought  to  contain  a  contrived  adaptation 
to  the  history ;  although,  even  in  that  case,  the  averment, 
or,  rather,  the  allusion,  in  the  epistle,  is  too  oblique  to  af- 
ford much  room  for  such  suspicion.  But  the  truth  i^'' 
that,  in  the  history  of  St.  Paul's  transactions  at  Philippi, 
which  occupies  the  greatest  part  of  the  sixteenth  chapter 
of  the  Acts,  no  mention  is  made  of  Timothy  at  all.     What 


4 


164  THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    PHILIPPIANS. 

appears  concerning  Timothy  in  the  history,  so  far  as  re- 
lates to  the  present  subject,  is  this  :  "  When  Paul  came  to 
Derbe  and  Lystra,  behold,  a  certain  disciple  was  there, 
named  Timotheus,  whom  Paul  would  have  to  go  forth 
with  him."  The  narrative  then  proceeds  with  the  ac- 
count of  St.  Paul's  progress  through  various  provinces  of 
the  Lesser  Asia,  till  it  brings  him  down  to  Troas.  At 
Troas  he  was  warned  in  a  vision  to  pass  over  into  Ma- 
cedonia. In  obedience  to  which  he  crossed  the  iEgean 
Sea  to  Samothracia,  the  next  day  to  Neapolis,  and  from 
thence  to  Philippi.  His  preaching,  miracles,  and  perse- 
cutions at  Philippi,  follow  next ;  after  which  Paul  and 
his  company,  when  they  had  passed  through  Amphipolis 
and  Appollonia,  came  to  Thessalonica,  and  from  Thessa- 
lonica  to  Berea.  From  Berea  the  brethren  sent  away 
Paul ;  "  but  Silas  and  Timotheus  abode  there  still."  The 
itinerary  of  which  the  above  is  an  abstract  is  undoubt- 
edly sufficient  to  support  an  inference  that  Timothy  was 
along  with  St.  Paul  at  Philippi.  We  find  them  setting 
out  together  upon  this  progre^  from  Derbe,  in  Lycaonia ; 
we  find  them  together  near  the  conclusion  of  it,  at  Berea, 
in  Macedonia.  It  is  highly  probable,  therefore,  that  they 
came  together  to  Philippi,  through  which  their  route  be- 
tween these  two  places  lay.  If  this  be  thought  probable 
it  is  sufficient.  For  what  I  wish  to  be  observed  is,  that, 
in  comparing,  upon  this  subject,  the  epistle  with  the  his- 
tory, we  do  not  find  a  recital  in  one  place  of  what  is  re- 
lated in  another ;  but  that  we  find  what  is  much  more  to 
be  relied  upon,  an  oblique  allusion  to  an  implied  fact. 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    PHILIPPIANS.  165 


No.  V. 

Our  epistle  purports  to  have  been  written  near  the 
conclusion  of  St.  Paul's  imprisonment  at  Rome,  and  after 
a  residence  in  that  city  of  considerable  duration.  These 
circumstances  are  made  out  by  different  intimations,  and 
the  intimations  upon  the  subject  preserve  among  them- 
selves a  just  consistency,  and  a  consistency  certainly  un- 
meditated. First,  the  apostle  had  already  been  a  prisoner 
at  Rome  so  long^-as^hat  the  reputation  of  his  bonds,  and 
of  his  constancy  under  them,  had  contributed  to  advance 
the  success  of  the  Gospel :  '*  But  I  v^ould  ye  should  un- 
derstand, brethren,  that  the  things  which  happened  unto 
me  have  fallen  out  rather  unto  the  furtherance  of  the  Gos- 
pel ;  so  that  my  bonds  in  Christ  are  manifest  in  all  the 
palace,  and  in  all  other  places  ;  and  many  of  the  brethren 
in  the  Lord,  waxing  confident  by  my  bonds,  are  much 
more  bold  to. speak  the  word  without  fear."  Secondly, 
the  account  given  of  Epaphroditus  imports  that  St.  Paul, 
when  he  wrote  the  epistle,  had  been  in  Rome  a  consid- 
erable time :  "  He  longed  after  you  all,  and  was  full  of 
heaviness,  because  that  ye  had  heard  that  he  had  been 
sick."  Epaphroditus  was  with  St.  Paul  at  Rome.  He 
had  been  sick.  The  Philippians  had  heard  of  his  sick- 
ness, and  he  again  had  received  an  account  how  much 
they  had  been  affected  by  the  intelligence.  The  passing 
and  repassing  of  these  advices  must  necessarily  have  oc- 
cupied a  large  portion  of  time,  and  must  have  all  taken 
place  during  St.  Paul's  residence  at  Rome.  Thirdly,  af- 
ter a  residence  at  Rome  thus  proved  to  have  been  of  con- 
siderable duration,  he  now  regards  the  decision  of  his 
fate  as  nigh  at  hand.  He  contemplates  either  alterna- 
tive :  that  of  his  deliverance,  chap.  ii.  23  ;  "Him,  there- 


166  THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    PHILIPPIANS. 

fore,  (Timothy,)  I  hope  to  send  presently,  so  soon  as  I 
shall  see  how  it  will  go  with  me ;  but  I  trust  in  the  Lord 
that  I  also  myself  shall  come  shortly  :"  that  of  his  con- 
demnation, ver.  17 ;  "  Yea,  and  if  I  be  offered*  upon  the 
sacrifice  and  service  of  your  faith,  I  joy  and  rejoice  with 
you  all."  This  consistency  is  material,  if  the  considera- 
tion of  it  be  confined  to  the  epistle.  It  is  farther  material, 
as  it  agrees,  with  respect  to  the  duration  of  St.  Paul's  first 
imprisonment  at  Rome,  with  the  account  delivered  in  the 
Acts,  which,  having  brought  the  apostle  to  Rome,  closes 
the  history  by  telling  us  "  that  he  dwelt  there  two  whole 
years  in  his  own  hired  house." 


No.  VI. 

Chap.  i.  23.  '*  For  I  am  in  a  strait  betwixt  two,  hav- 
ing a  desire  to  depart,  and  to  be  with  Christ ;  which  is  far 
better." 

With  this  compare  2  Cor.,  chap.  v.  8 :  "  We  are  confi- 
dent and  willing  rather  to  be  absent  from  the  body,  and 
to  be  present  with  the  Lord." 

The  sameness  of  sentiment  in  these  two  quotations  is 
obvious.  I  rely,  however,  not  so  much  upon  that,  as 
upon  the  similitude  in  the  train  of  thought  which  in  each 
epistle  leads  up  to  this  sentiment,  and  upon  the  suitable- 
ness of  that  train  of  thought  to  the  circumstances  under 
which  the  epistles  purport  to  have  been  written.  This,  I 
conceive,  bespeaks  the  production  of  the  same  mind,  and 
of  a  mind  operating  upon  real  circumstances.  The  sen- 
timent is  in  both  places  preceded  by  the  contemplation 
of  imminent    personal   danger.     To  the   Philippians  he 

*   AXA'  £1  Kai  cTisviofiai  em  rjj  Ovaia  r/?j  iriareoii  vjiwv,  if  my  blood  be  poured 
out  as  a  libation  upon  the  sacrifice  of  your  faith. 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    PHILIPPI ANri.  167 

writes,  in  the  twentieth  verse  of  this  chapter,  '-  Accord- 
ing to  my  earnest  expectation  and  my  hope,  that  in  noth- 
ing I  shall  be  ashamed,  but  that  with  all  boldness,  as 
always,  so  now  also,  Christ  shall  be  magnified  in  my 
body,  whether  it  be  by  life  or  by  death."  To  the  Co- 
rinthians, "  Troubled  on  every  side,  yet  not  distressed  ; 
perplexed,  but  not  in  despair;  persecuted,  but  not  forsa- 
ken ;  cast  down,  but  not  destroyed  ;  always  bearing  about 
in  the  body  the  dying  of  the  Lord  Jesus."  This  train  of 
reflection  is  continued  to  the  place  from  whence  the  words 
which  we  compare  are  taken.  The  two  epistles,  though 
written  at  different  times,  from  different  places,  and  to 
different  churches,  were  both  written  under  circumstan- 
ces which  would  naturally  recall  to  the  author's  mind  the 
precarious  condition  of  his  Hfe,  and  the  perils  which  con- 
stantly awaited  him.  When  the  Epistle  to  the  Philippians 
was  written,  the  author  w^as  a  prisoner  at  Rome,  expect- 
ing his  trial.  When  the  Second  Epistle  to  the  Corin- 
thians was  written,  he  had  lately  escaped  a  danger  in 
which  he  had  given  himself  over  for  lost.  The  epistle 
opens  with  a  recollection  of  this  subject,  and  the  impres- 
sion accompanied  the  writer's  thoughts  throughout. 

I  know  that  nothing  is  easier  than  to  transplant  into  a 
forged  epistle  a  sentiment  or  expression  which  is  found 
in  a  true  one  ;  or,  supposing  both  epistles  to  be  forged  by 
the  same  hand,  to  insert  the  same  sentiment  or  expression 
in  both.  But  the  difficulty  is  to  introduce  it  in  just  and 
close  connection  with  a  train  of  thought  going  before,  and 
with  a  train  of  thought  apparently  generated  by  the  cir- 
cumstances under  which  the  epistle  is  written.  In  two 
epistles,  purporting  to  be  written  on  different  occasions, 
and  in  different  periods  of  the  author's  history,  this  pro- 
priety would  not  easily  be  managed. 


168  THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    PHILIPPIANS. 


No.    VII. 

Chap,  i.,  29,  39  ;  1,  2.  "For  unto  you  is 'given,  in  the 
behalf  of  Christ,  not  only  to  believe  on  him,  but  also  to 
suffer  for  his  sake ;  having  the  same  conflict  which  ye 
saw  in  me,  and  now  hear  to  be  in  me.  If  there  be,  there- 
fore, any  consolation  in  Christ,  if  any  comfort  of  love,  if 
any  fellowship  of  the  Spirit,  if  any  bowels  and  mercies ; 
fulfil  ye  my  joy,  that  ye  be  like-minded,  having  the  same 
love,  being  of  one  accord,  of  one  mind." 

With  this  compare  Acts,  xvi.  22 :  "  And  the  multitude 
(at  Philippi)  rose  up  against  them  (Paul  and  Silas)  ;  and 
the  magistrates  rent  off  their  clothes,  and  commanded  to 
beat  them  ;  and  when  they  had  laid  many  stripes  upon 
them,  they  cast  them  into  prison,  charging  the  jailer  to 
keep  them  safely;  who  having  received  such  a  charge, 
thrust  them  into  the  inner  prison,  and  made  their  feet  fast 
in  the  stocks." 

The  passage  in  the  epistle  is  very  remarkable.  I  know 
not  an  example  in  any  writing  of  a  juster  pathos,  or  which 
more  truly  represents  the  workings  of  a  warm  and  affec- 
tionate mind,  than  what  is  exhibited  in  the  quotation  be- 
fore us.*  The  apostle  reminds  his  Philippians  of  their 
being  joined  with  himself  in  the  endurance  of  persecution 
for  the  sake  of  Christ.  He  conjures  them  by  the  ties  of 
their  common  profession  and  their  common  sufferings, 
"  to  fulfil  his  joy  ;"  to  complete,  by  the  unity  of  their  faith, 
and  by  their  mutual  love,  that  joy  with  which  the  instan- 
ces he  had  received  of  their  zeal  and  attachment  had  in- 
spired his  breast.     Now  if  this  was  the  real  effusion  of  St. 

*  The  original  is  very  spirited:  Ei  th  hv  TrapaKXrjcris  ev  Xptorw,  a  ti  napc^v  y^ 
Oiov  ayaT/jj,  ei  m  Koivwvia  ITi/eo/iaroff,  ti  riva  a}T\ayj(^va  Kai  oiKTipfioi,  TrXripuiaaTe 
fib  ^apav. 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    PHILIPPIANS.  169 

Paul's  mind,  of  which  it  bears  the  strongest  internal  char- 
acter, then  we  have  in  the  words,  "  the  same  conflict 
which  ye  saw  in  me,"  an  authentic  confirmation  of  so 
much  of  the  apostle's  history  in  the  Acts  as  relates  to 
his  transactions  at  Philippi ;  and,  through  that,  of  the  in- 
telligence and  general  fidelity  of  the  historian. 


8 


CHAPTER  VIIL 

THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE  COLOSSIANS. 

No.    I. 

There  is  a  circumstance  of  conformity  between  St. 
Paul's  history  and  his  letters,  especially  those  which  were 
written  during  his  first  imprisonment  at  Rome,  and  more 
especially  the  epistles  to  the  Colossians  and  Ephesians, 
which  being  too  close  to  be  accounted  for  from  accident, 
yet  too  indirect  and  latent  to  be  imputed  to  design,  can- 
not easily  be  resolved  into  any  other  original  than  truth. 
Which  circumstance  is  this,  that  St.  Paul,  in  these  epis- 
tles, attributes  his  imprisonment  not  to  his  preaching  of 
Christianity,  but  to  his  asserting  the  right  of  the  Gentiles 
to  be  admitted  into  it  without  conforming  themselves  to 
the  Jewish  law.  This  was  the  doctrine  to  which  he  con- 
sidered himself  a  martyr.  Thus,  in  the  epistle  before  us, 
chap.  i.  24,  (I  Paul)  "  who  now  rejoice  in  my  sufferings 
for  you" — "ybr  you,^^  i.  e.  for  those  whom  he  had  never 
seen  :  for  a  few  verses  afterwards  he  adds,  "I  would  that 
ye  knew  what  great  conflict  1  have  for  you  and  for  them  at 
Laodicea,  and  for  as  many  as  have  not  seen  my  face  in  the 
flesh."  His  suffering  therefore  for  them  was,  in  their  gen- 
eral capacity  of  Gentile  Christians,  agreeably  to  what  he 
explicitly  declares  in  his  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians,  iv.  1 : 
"  For  this  cause  I  Paul,  the  prisoner  of  Jesus  Christ,  for 
you  Gentiles'''  Again,  in  the  epistle  now  under  consid- 
eration, iv,  3 :  "  Withal  praying  also  for  us,  that  God 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    COLOSSIANS.  171 

would  open  nnto  us  a  door  of  utterance  to  speak  the  mys- 
tery of  Christ,  for  which  I  am  also  in  bonds."  What  that 
"  mystery  of  Christ"  was,  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians 
distinctly  informs  us :  "  Whereby  when  ye  read  ye  may 
understand  my  knowledge  in  the  mystery  of  Christ, 
which,  in  other  ages,  was  not  made  known  unto  the  sons 
of  men,  as  it  is  now  revealed  unto  his  holy  apostles  and 
prophets  by  the  Spirit,  that  the  Gentiles  should  he  fellow- 
heirs,  and  of  the  same  body,  and  partakers  of  his  promise 
in  Christ  by  the  Gospel.'''  This,  therefore,  was  the  con- 
fession for  which  he  declares  himself  to  be  in  bonds.  Now 
let  us  inquire  how  the  occasion  of  St.  Paul's  imprison- 
ment is  represented  in  the  history.  The  apostle  had  not 
long  returned  to  Jerusalem  from  his  second  visit  into 
Greece,  when  an  uproar  was  excited  in  that  city,  by  the 
clamor  of  certain  Asiatic  Jews,  who,  "  having  seen  Paul 
in  the  temple,  stirred  up  all  the  people,  and  laid  hands  on 
him."  The  charge  advanced  against  him  was,  that  ''he 
taught  all  men  everywhere  against  the  people,  and  the 
law,  and  this  place  ;  and,  farther,  brought  Greeks  also 
into  the  temple,  and  polluted  that  holy  place."  The  for- 
mer part  of  the  charge  seems  to  point  at  the  doctrine, 
which  he  maintained,  of  the  admission  of  the  Gentiles, 
under  the  new  dispensation,  to  an  indiscriminate  partici- 
pation of  God's  favor  with  the  Jews.  But  what  follows 
makes  the  matter  clear.  When,  by  the  interference  of 
the  chief  captain,  Paul  had  been  rescued  out  of  the  hands 
of  the  populace,  and  was  permitted  to  address  the  multi- 
tude who  had  followed  him  to  the  stairs  of  the  castle,  he 
delivered  a  brief  account  of  his  birth,  of  the  early  course 
of  his  life,  of  his  miraculous  conversion ;  and  is  proceed- 
ing in  this  narrative,  until  he  comes  to  describe  a  vision 
which  was  presented  to  him,  as  he  was  praying  in  the 
temple ;   and   which  bid  him  depart  out  of  Jerusalem, 


172  THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    COLOSSIANS. 

"  for  I  will  send  thee  far  hence  unto  the  Gentiles"  Acts, 
xxii.  21.  *'  They  gave  him  audience,"  says  the  historian, 
'^  unto  this  word;  and  then  lift  up  their  voices,  and  said, 
Away  with  such  a  fellow  from  the  earth  !"  Nothing  can 
show  more  strongly  than  this  account  does  what  was  the 
offence  which  drew  down  upon  St.  Paul  the  vengeance 
of  his  countrymen.  His  mission  to  the  Gentiles,  and  his 
open  avowal  of  that  mission,  was  the  intolerable  part  of 
the  apostle's  crime.  But,  although  the  real  motive  of  the 
prosecution  appears  to  have  been  the  apostle's  conduct 
towards  the  Gentiles  ;  yet,  when  his  accusers  came  before 
a  Roman  magistrate,  a  charge  was  to  be  framed  of  a 
more  legal  form.  The  profanation  of  the  temple  was  the 
article  they  chose  to  rely  upon.  This,  therefore,  became 
the  immediate  subject  of  Tertullus's  oration  before  Felix, 
and  of  Paul's  defence.  But  that  he  all  along  considered 
his  ministry  amongst  the  Gentiles  as  the  actual  source  of 
the  enmity  that  had  been  exercised  against  him,  and  in 
particular  as  the  cause  of  the  insurrection  in  which  his 
person  had  been  seized,  is  apparent  from  the  conclusion 
of  his  discourse  before  Agrippa :  "  I  have  appeared  unto 
thee,"  says  he,  describing  what  passed  upon  his  journey 
to  Damascus,  "  for  this  purpose,  to  make  thee  a  minister 
and  a  witness,  both  of  these  things  which  thou  hast  seen, 
and  of  those  things  in  the  which  I  will  appear  unto  thee, 
delivering  thee  from  the  people  and  from  the  Gentiles, 
unto  whom  now  I  send  thee,  to  open  their  eyes,  and  to 
turn  them  from  darkness  to  light,  and  from  the  power  of 
Satan  unto  God,  that  they  may  receive  forgiveness  of 
sins,  and  inheritance  among  them  which  are  sanctified  by 
faith  that  is  in  me.  Whereupon,  O  King  Agrippa,  I  was 
not  disobedient  unto  the  heavenly  vision  ;  but  showed 
first  unto  them  of  Damascus,  and  of  Jerusalem,  and 
throughout  all  the  coasts  of  Judea,  and  then  to  the  Gen- 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    COLOSSIANS.  173 

tiles,  that  they  should  repent  and  turn  to  God,  and  do 
works  meet  for  repentance.  For  these  causes  the  Jews 
caught  me  in  the  temple,  and  went  about  to  kill  me." 
The  seizing,  therefore,  of  St.  Paul's  person,  from  which 
he  was  never  discharged  till  his  final  liberation  at  Rome  ; 
and  of  which,  therefore,  his  imprisonment  at  Rome  was 
the  continuation  and  effect,  was  not  in  consequence  of 
any  general  persecution  set  on  foot  against  Christianity ; 
nor  did  it  befall  him  simply  as  professing  or  teaching 
Christ's  religion,  which  James  and  the  elders  at  Jerusa- 
lem did  as  well  as  he,  (and  yet,  for  any  thing  that  ap- 
pears, remained  at  that  time  unmolested)  ;  but  it  was  dis- 
tinctly and  specifically  brought  upon  him  by  his  activity 
in  preaching  to  the  Gentiles,  and  by  his  boldly  placing 
them  upon  a  level  with  the  once-favored  and  still  self- 
flattered  posterity  of  Abraham.  How  well  St.  Paul's  let- 
ters, purporting  to  be  written  during  this  imprisonment, 
agree  with  this  account  of  its  cause  and  origin,  we  have 
already  seen. 


No.  II. 

Chap.  iv.  10.  "  Aristarchus,  my  fellow- prisoner,  sa- 
luteth  you,  and  Marcus,  sister's  son  to  Barnabas,  (touching 
whom  ye  received  commandments  :  If  he  come  unto  you, 
receive  him ;)  and  Jesus,  which  is  called  Justus,  who  are 
of  the  circumcision." 

We  find  Aristarchus  as  a  companion  of  our  apostle  in 
the  nineteenth  chapter  of  the  Acts,  and  the  twenty-ninth 
verse:  "And  the  whole  city  of  Eph^sus  was  filled  with 
confusion  ;  and  having  caught  Gains  and  Aristarclms,  men 
of  Macedonia,  Paul's  companions  in  travel,  they  rushed 
with  one  accord  into  the  theatre."     And   we  find  him 


174  THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    COLOSSIANS. 

upon  his  journey  with  St.  Paul  to  Rome,  in  the  twenty- 
seventh  chapter,  and  the  second  verse :  "  And  when  it 
was  determined  that  w^e  should  sail  into  Italy,  they  de- 
livered Paul  and  certain  other  prisoners  unto  one  named 
Julius,  a  centurion  of  Augustus's  bund  :  and,  entering  into 
a  ship  of  Adramyttium,  we  launched,  meaning  to  sail  by 
the  coast  of  Asia ;  one  Aristarchus,  a  Macedonian  of 
ThessaIo7iica,  being  with  us.^^  But  might  not  the  author 
of  the  epistle  have  consulted  the  history ;  and,  observing 
that  the  historian  had  brought  Aristarchus  along  with 
Paul  to  Rome,  might  he  not  for  that  reason,  and  without 
any  other  foundation,  have  put  dow^n  his  name  amongst 
the  salutations  of  an  epistle  purporting  to  be  written  by 
the  apostle  from  that  place  ?  I  allow  so  much  of  possi- 
bility to  this  objection  that  I  should  not  have  proposed 
this  in  the  number  of  coincidences  clearly  undesigned, 
bad  Aristarchus  stood  alone.  The  observation  that  strikes 
me  in  reading  the  passage  is,  that,  together  with  Aristar- 
chus, whose  journey  to  Rome  we  trace  in  the  history,  are 
joined  Marcus  and  Justus,  of  whose  coming  to  Rome  the 
histoiy  says  nothing.  Aristarchus  alone  appears  in  the 
history,  and  Aristarchus  alone  would  have  appeared  in 
the  epistle,  if  the  author  had  regulated  himself  by  that 
conformity.  Or,  if  you  take  it  the  other  way ;  if  you 
suppose  the  history  to  have  been  made  out  of  the  epistle, 
why  the  journey  of  Aristarchus  to  Rome  should  be  re- 
corded, and  not  that  of  Marcus  and  Justus,  if  the  ground- 
work of  the  narrative  was  the  appearance  of  Aristar- 
chus's  name  in  the  epistle*  seems  to  be  unaccountable. 

'•  Marcus,  sister''s  son  to  Barnabas."  Does  not  this  hint 
account  for  Barnabas's  adherence  to  Mark  in  the  contest 
that  arose  with  our  apostle  concerning  him  ?  "  And  some 
days  after  Paul  said  unto  Barnabas,  Let  us  go  again  and 
visit  our  brethren  in  every  city  where  we  have  preached 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    COLOSSIANS,  175 

the  word  of  the  Lord,  and  see  how  they  do ;  and  Barna- 
bas determined  to  take  with  them  John,  whose  surname  was 
Mark  ;  but  Paul  thought  not  good  to  take  him  with  them, 
who  departed  from  Pamphylia,  and  went  not  with  them 
to  the  work ;  and  the  contention  was  so  sharp  between 
them  that  they  departed  asunder  one  from  the  other :  and 
so  Barnabas  took  Mark  and  sailed  unto  Cyprus."  The 
history  which  records  the  dispute  has  not  preserved  the 
circumstance  of  Mark's  relationship  to  Barnabas.  It  is 
nowhere  noticed  but  in  the  text  before  us.  As  far,  there- 
fore, as  it  applies,  the  application  is  certainly  undesigned. 
"  Sister's  son  to  Barnabas."  This  woman,  the  mother 
of  Mark,  and  the  sister  of  Barnabas,  was,  as  might  be  ex- 
pected, a  person  of  some  eminence  amongst  the  Chris- 
tians of  Jerusalem.  It  so  happens  that  we  hear  of  her 
in  the  history.  "  When  Peter  was  delivered  from  prison, 
he  came  to  the  house  of  Mary  the  mother  of  John,  whose 
surnaine  was  Mark,  where  many  were  gathered  together 
praying."'  Acts.,  xii.  12.  There  is  somewhat  of  coinci- 
dence in  this ;  somewhat  bespeaking  real  transactions 
amongst  real  persons'.'' 


No.  III. 

The  following  coincidence,  though  it  bear  the  appear- 
ance of  great  nicety  and  refinement,  ought  not,  perhaps, 
to  be  deemed  imaginary.  In  the  salutations  with  which 
this,  like  most  of  St.  Paul's  epistles,  concludes,  "  we  have 
Aristarchus,  and  Marcus,  and  Jesus,  which  is  called  Jus- 
tus, who  are  of  the  circumcision J^  iv.  10,  11.  Then  fol- 
low also,  "Epaphras,  Luke,  the  beloved  physician,  and 
Demas."  Now^  as  this  description,  "  who  are  of  the  cir- 
cumcision," is  added  after  the  first  three  names,  it  is  in- 


176  THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    COLOSSIANS. 

ferred,  not  without  great  appearance  of  probability,  that 
the  rest,  amongst  whom  is  Luke,  were  not  of  the  circum- 
cision. Now,  can  we  discover  any  expression  in  the 
Acts  of  the  Apostles  which  ascertains  whether  the  author 
of  the  book  was  a  Jew  or  not  ?  If  we  can  discover  that 
he  was  not  a  Jew,  we  fix  a  circumstance  in  his  character 
which  coincides  with  what  is  here,  indirectly  indeed,  but 
not  very  uncertainly,  intimated  concerning  Luke:  and 
we  so  far  confirm  both  the  testimony  of  the  primitive 
church,  that  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  was  written  by  St. 
Luke,  and  the  general  reality  of  the  persons  and  circum- 
stances brought  together  in  this  epistle.  The  text  in  the 
Acts,  which  has  been  construed  to  show  that  the  writer 
was  not  a  Jew,  is  the  nineteenth  verse  of  the  first  chapter, 
where,  in  describing  the  field  which  had  been  purchased 
with  the  reward  of  Judas's  iniquity,  it  is  said  "  that  it  was 
known  unto  all  the  dwellers  at  Jerusalem ;  insomuch  as 
that  field  is  called  in  tJieir  proper  tongue,  Aceldama, 
that  is  to  say,  The  field  of  blood."  These  words  are  by 
most  commentators  taken  to  be  the  words  and  observa- 
tion of  the  historian,  and  not  a  part  of  St.  Peter's  speech, 
in  the  midst  of  which  they  are  found.  If  this  be  admit- 
ted, then  it  is  argued  that  the  expression,  "  in  their  proper 
tongue,"  would  not  have  been  used  b};;  a  Jew,  but  is  suit- 
able to  the  pen  of  a  Gentile  writing  concerning  Jews.* 
The  reader  will  judge  of  the  probability  of  this  conclu- 
sion, and  we  urge  the  coincidence  no  farther  than  that 
probability  extends.  The  coincidence,  if  it  be  one,  is  so 
remote  from  all  possibility  of  design  that  nothing  need  be 
added  to  satisfy  the  reader  upon  that  part  of  the  argu- 
ment. 

*  Vide  Benson's  Dissertation,  vol.  i.  p,  318,  of  his  works,  ed.  1756. 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    COLOSSIANS.  177 


No.  IV. 

Chap.  iv.  9.     "  With  Onesimus,  a  faithful  and  beloved 
brother,  who  is  one  of  you. ''^ 

Observe  how  it  may  be  made  out  that  Onesimus  vv^as 
a  Colossian.  Turn  to  the  Epistle  to  Philemon,  and  you 
will  find  that  Onesimus  was  the  servant  or  slave  of  Phile- 
mon. The  question  therefore  will  be,  to  what  city  Phile- 
mon belonged.  In  the  epistle  addressed  to  him  this  is 
not  declared.  It  appears  only  that  he  was  of  the  same 
place,  whatever  that  place  was,  with  an  eminent  Christian 
named  Archippus.  "Paul,  a  prisoner  of  Jesus  Christ, 
and  Timothy  our  brother,  unto  Philemon  our  dearly  be- 
loved and  fellow-laborer  ;  and  to  our  beloved  Apphia, 
and  Archippus  our  fellow-soldier,  and  to  the  church  in 
thy  house."  Now  turn  back  to  the  Epistle  to  the  Co-, 
lossians,  and  you  will  find  Archippus  saluted  by  name 
amongst  the  Christians  of  that  church.  "  Say  to  Archip- 
pus, Take  heed  to  the  ministry  which  thou  hast  received 
in  the  Lord,  that  thou  fulfil  it :"  iv.  17.  The  necessary 
result  is,  that  Onesimus  also  was  of  the  same  city,  agree- 
ably to  what  is  said  of  him,  "  he  is  one  of  you."  And 
this  result  is  the  effect  either  of  truth,  which  produces 
consistency  without  the  writer's  thought  or  care,  or  of  a 
contexture  of  forgeries  confirming  and  falling  in  with  one 
another  by  a  species  of  fortuity  of  which  I  know  no  ex- 
ample. The  supposition  of  design,  I  think,  is  excluded, 
Yiot  only  because  the  purpose  to  which  the  design  must 
have  been  directed,  viz.  the  verification  of  the  passage  in 
our  epistle,  in  which  it  is  said  concerning  Onesimus,  "  he 
is  one  of  you,"  is  a  purpose  w^hich  would  be  lost  upon 
ninety-nine  readers  out  of  a  hundred ;  but  because  the 
means  made  use  of  are  too  circuitous  to  have  been  the 


178  THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    COLOSSIANS. 

subject  of  affectation  and  contrivance.  Would  a  forger, 
who  had  this  purpose  in  view,  have  left  his  readers  to  hunt 
it  out,  by  going  forward  and  backward  from  one  epistle 
to  another,  in  order  to  connect  Onesimus  with  Philemon, 
Philemon  with  Archippus,  and  Archippus  with  Colosse? 
all  which  he  must  do  before  he  arrives  at  his  discovery, 
that  it  was  truly  said  of  Onesimus,  "  he  is  one  of  you." 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE  FIRST  EPISTLE  TO  THE  THESSALONIANS. 

No.  I. 

It  is  known  to  every  reader  of  Scripture  that  the  First 
Epistle  to  the  Thessalonians  speaks  of  the  coming  of 
Christ  in  terms  which  indicate  an  expectation  of  his  speedy 
appearance :  '*  For  this  we  say  unto  you  by  the  word  of 
the  Lord,  that  we  which  are  aUve  and  remain  unto  the 
coming  of  the  Lord  shall  not  prevent  them  which  are 
asleep.  For  the  Lord  himself  shall  descend  from  heaven 
with  a  shout,  with  the  voice  of  the  archangel,  and  with 
the  trump  of  God  ;  and  the  dead  in  Christ  shall  rise  first : 
then  we  which  are  alive  and  remain  shall  be  caught  up 
together  with  them  in  the  clouds. — But  ye,  brethren,  are 
not  in  darkness,  that  that  day  should  overtake  you  as  a 
thief."     Chap.  iv.  15,  16,  17;  chap.  v.  4. 

Whatever  other  construction  these  texts  may  hear,  the 
idea  they  leave  upon  the  mind  of  an  ordinary  reader  is 
that  of  the  author  of  the  epistle  looking  for  the  day  of 
judgment  to  take  place  in  his  own  time,  or  near  to  it. 
Now  the  use  which  I  make  of  this  circumstance  is  to  de- 
duce from  it  a  proof  that  the  epistle  itself  was  not  the  pro- 
duction of  a  subsequent  age.  Would  an  impostor  have 
given  this  expectation  to  St.  Paul,  after  experience  had 
proved  it  to  be  erroneous  ?  or  would  he  have  put  into 
the  apostle's  mouth,  or,  which  is  the  same  thing,  into  writ- 
ings purporting  to  come  from   his  hand,  expressions,  if 


180         THE    FIRST    EPISTLE    TO    THE    THESSALONIANS. 

not  necessarily  conveying,  at  least  easily  interpreted  to 
convey,  an  opinion  which  was  then  known  to  be  founded 
in  mistake?  I  state  this  as  an  argument  to  show  that  the 
epistle  was  contemporary  with  St.  Paul,  which  is  little 
less  than  to  show  that  it  actually  proceeded  from  his  pen. 
For  I  question  whether  any  ancient  forgeries  were  exe- 
cuted in  the  lifetime  of  the  person  whose  name  they  bear  ; 
nor  was  the  primitive  situation  of  the  church  likely  to 
give  birth  to  such  an  attempt. 


No.   II. 

•  Our  epistle  concludes  with  a  direction  that  it  should 
be  publicly  read  in  the  church  to  which  it  was  addressed : 
"  I  charge  you  by  the  Lord  that  this  epistle  be  read  unto 
all  the  holy  brethren."  The  existence  of  this  clause  "in  the 
body  of  the  epistle  is  an  evidence  of  its  authenticity  ;  be- 
cause to  produce  a  letter  purporting  to  have  been  pub- 
licly read  in  the  church  of  Thessalonica,  when  no  such 
letter  in  truth  had  been  read  or  heard  of  in  that  church, 
would  be  to  produce  an  imposture  destructive  of  itself. 
At  least,  it  seems  unlikely  that  the  author  of  an  impos- 
ture would  voluntarily,  and  even  officiously,  afford  a  han- 
dle to  so  plain  an  objection.  Either  the  epistle  was  pub- 
licly read  in  the  church  of  Thessalonica  during  St.  Paul's 
lifetime,  or  it  was  not.  If  it  was,  no  publication  could  be 
more  authentic,  no  species  of  notoriety  more  unquestion- 
able, no  method  of  preserving  the  integrity  of  the  copy 
more  secure.  If  it  was  not,  the  clause  we  produce  would 
remain  a  standing  condemnation  of  the  forgery,  and  one 
would  suppose,  an  invincible  impediment  to  its  success. 

If  we  connect  this  article  with  the  preceding,  we  shall 
perceive  that  they  combine  into  one  strong  proof  of  the 


THE    FIRST    EPISTLE    TO    THE    THESSALONIANS.  181 

genuineness  of  the  epistle.  The  preceding  article  carries 
up  the  date  of  the  epislle  to  the  time  of  St.  Paul ;  the 
present  article  fixes  the  publication  of  it  to  the  church  of 
Thessalonica.  Either,  therefore,  the  church  of  Thessa- 
lonica  was  imposed  upon, by  a  false  epistle,  which  in  St. 
Paul's  lifetime  they  received  and  read  publicly  as  his,  car- 
rying on  a  communication  with  him  all  the  while,  and 
the  epistle  referring  to  the  continuance  of  that  communi- 
cation :  or  other  Christian  churches,  in  the  same  lifetime 
of  the  apostle,  received  an  epistle  purporting  to  have 
been  publicly  read  in  the  church  of  Thessalonica,  which 
nevertheless  had  not  been  heard  of  in  that  church ;  or, 
lastly,  the  conclusion  remains,  that  the  epistle  now  in  our 
hands  is  genuine. 

No.  III. 

Between  our  epistle  and  the  history  the  accordancy, 
in  many  points,  is  circumstantial  and  complete.  The  his- 
tory relates  that,  after  Paul  and  Silas  had  been  beaten 
with  many  stripes  at  Philippi,  shut  up  in  the  inner  prison, 
and  their  feet  made  fast  in  the  stocks,  as  soon  as  they 
were  discharged  from  their  confinement,  they  departed 
from  thence,  and,  when  they  had  passed  through  Am- 
phipolis  and  Apollonia,  came  to  Thessalonica,  where 
Paul  opened  and  alleged  that  Jesus  was  the  Christ :  Acts, 
xvi.  23,  &c.  The  epistle,  written  in  the  name  of  Paul 
and  Silvanus  (Silas),  and  of  Timotheus,  who  also  appears 
to  have  been  along  with  them  at  Philippi,  (vide  Phil.,  No. 
iv.),  speaks  to  the  church  of  Thessalonica  thus  ;  "Even 
after  that  we  had  suffered  before,  and  were  shamefully 
entreated,  as  ye  know,  at  Philippi,  we  were  bold  in  our 
God  to  speak  unto  you  the  Gospel  of  God  with  much  con- 
tention:" chap.  ii.  2. 


182  THE    FIRST    EPISTLE    TO    THE    THESSALONIANS. 

The  history  relates  that,  after  they  had  been  some  time 
at  Thessalonica,  *'the  Jews  who  believed  not  set  all  the 
city  in  an  uproar,  and  assaulted  the  house  of  Jason,  where 
Paul  and  Silas  were,  and  sought  to  bring  them  out  to  the 
people  :"  Acts,  xvii.  5.  The  epistle  declares,  "  when  we 
were  with  you,  we  told  you  before  that  we  should  suffer 
tribulation  ;  even  as  it  came  to  pass,  and  ye  know ;"  iii.  4, 

The  history  brings  Paul,  and  Silas,  and  Timothy  to- 
gether at  Corinth,  soon  after  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel 
at  Thessalonica :  "  And  when  Silas  and  Timotheus  were 
come  from  Macedonia  (to  Corinth),  Paul  was  pressed  in 
spirit :"  Acts,  xviii.  5.  The  epistle  is  written  in  the  name 
of  these  three  persons,  who  consequently  must  have  been 
together  at  the  time,  and  speaks  throughout  of  their  min- 
istry at  Thessalonica  as  a  recent  transaction :  "  We,  breth- 
ren, being  taken  from  you  for  a  short  time,  in  presence 
not  in  heart,  endeavoring  the  more  abundantly  to  see 
your  face,  with  great  desire:"  ii.  17. 

The  harmony  is  indubitable ;  but  the  points  of  history 
in  which  it  consists  are  so  expressly  set  forth  in  the  nar- 
rative, and  so  directly  referred  to  in  the  epistle,  that  it 
becomes  necessary  for  us  to  show  that  the  facts  in  one 
writing  were  not  copied  'from  the  other.  Now,  amidst 
some  minuter  discrepancies,  which  will  be  noticed  below, 
there  is  one  circumstance  which  mixes  itself  with  all  the 
allusions  in  the  epistle,  but  does  not  appear  in  the  history 
anywhere ;  and  that  is,  of  a  visit  which  St.  Paul  had  in- 
tended to  pay  to  the  Thessalonians  during  the  time  of  his 
residing  at  Corinth :  "  Wherefore  we  would  have  come 
unto  you  (even  I  Paul)  once  and  again  ;  but  Satan  hin- 
dered us:"  ii.  18.  "Night  and  day  praying  exceedingly 
that  we  might  see  your  face,  and  might  perfect  that 
which  is  lacking  in  your  faith.  Now  God  himself  and 
our  Father,  and  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  direct  our  way 


THE    FIRST    EPISTLE    TO    THE    THESSALONIANS.  183 

unto  you:"  iii.  10,  11.  Concerning  a  design  which  was 
not  executed,  although  the  person  himself,  who  was  con. 
scious  of  his  own  purpose,  should  make  mention  in  his 
letters,  nothing  is  more  probable  than  that  his  historian 
should  be  silent,  if  not  ignorant.  The  author  of  the  epis- 
tle could  not,  however,  have  learnt  this  circumstance 
from  the  history,  for  it  is  not  there  to  be  met  with  ;  nor, 
if  the  historian  had  drawn  his  materials  from  the  epistle, 
is  it  likely  that  he  would  have  passed  over  a  circumstance, 
which  is  amongst  the  most  obvious  and  prominent  of  the 
facts  to  be  collected  from  that  source  of  information. 


No.  IV. 

Chap,  iii.,1 — 7.  "  Wherefore,  when  we  could  no  longer 
forbear,  we  thought  it  good  to  he  left  at  Athens  alone,  and 
sent  Timotheus,  our  brother,  and  minister  of  God,  to 
establish  you,  and  to  comfort  you  concerning  your  faith ; — 
but  now  when  Timotheus  came  from  you  unto  us,  and 
brought  us  good  tidings  of  your  faith  and  charity,  we 
were  comforted  over  you  in  all  our  affliction  and  distress 
by  your  faith." 

The  history  relates  that,  when  Paul  came  out  of  Mace- 
donia to  Athens,  Silas  and  Timothy  staid  behind  at  Berea : 
"  the  brethren  sent  away  Paul  to  go  as  it  were  to  the  sea ; 
but  Silas  and  Timotheus  abode  there  still  ;  and  they  that 
conducted  Paul  brought  him  to  Athens."  Acts,  chap. 
xvii.  14,  15.  The  history  farther  relates  that,  after  Paul 
had  tarried  some  time  at  Athens,  and  had  proceeded  from 
thence  to  Corinth,  whilst  he  was  exercising  his  ministry 
in  that  city,  Silas  and  Timothy  came  to  him  from  Mace- 
donia. Acts,  chap,  xviii.  5.  But  to  reconcile  the  history 
with  the  clause  in  the  epistle,  which  makes  St.  Paul  say. 


184         THE    FIRST    EPISTLE    TO    THE    THESSALONIANS. 

*'I  thought  it  good  to  be  left  at  Athens  alone,  and  to  send 
Timothy  unto  you,"  it  is  necessary  to  suppose  that  Timo- 
thy had  come  up  with  St.  Paul  at  Athens ;  a  circum- 
stance which^the  history  does  not  mention.  I  remark, 
therefore,  that,  although  the  history  does  not  expressly 
notice  this  arrival,  j-et  it  contains  intimations  which  ren- 
der it  extremely  probable  that  the  fact  took  place.  First, 
as  soon  as  Paul  had  reached  Athens,  he  sent  a  message 
back  to  Silas  and  Timothy  "  for  to  come  to  him  with  all 
speed."  Acts,  chap,  xvii.,  15.  Secondly,  his  stay  at 
Athens  was  on  purpose  that  they  might  join  him  there ; 
*'  Now,  whilst  Paul  waited  for  them  at  Athens,  his  spirit 
was  stirred  in  him.  Acts,  chap.  xvii.  16.  Thirdly,  his 
departure  from  Athens  does  not  appear  to  have  been  in 
any  sort  hastened  or  abrupt.  It  is  said,  *' after  these 
things,"  viz.  his  disputations  with  the  Jews,  his  confer- 
ences with  the  philosophers,  his  discourse  at  Areopagus, 
and  the  gaining  of  some  converts,  "  he  departed  from 
Athens  and  came  to  Corinth."  It  is  not  hinted  that  he 
quitted  Athens  before  the  time  that  he  had  intended  to 
leave  it ;  it  is  not  suggested  that  he  was  driven  from 
thence,  as  he  was  from  many  cities,  by  tumults  or  perse- 
cutions, or  because  his  life  was  no  longer  safe.  Observe, 
then,  the  particulars  which  the  history  does  notice, — that 
Paul  had  ordered  Timothy  to  follow  him  without  delay, 
that  he  waited  at  Athens  on  purpose  that  Timothy  might 
come  up  with  him,  that  he  staid  there  as  long  as  his  own 
choice  led  him  to  continue.  Laying  these  circumstances 
which  the  history  does  disclose  together,  it  is  highly  pro- 
bable that  Timothy  came  to  the  apostle  at  Athens,  a  fact 
w^hich  the  epistle,  we  have  seen,  virtually  asserts,  when 
it  makes  Paul  send  Timothy  back  from  Athens  to  Thes- 
salonica.  The  sending  hack  of  Timothy  into  Macedonia 
accounts  also  for  his  not  coming  to  Corinth  till  after  Paul 


THE    FIRST    EPISTLE    TO    THE    THESSALONIAN3.  185 

had  been  fixed  in  that  city  some  considerable  time.  Paul 
had  found  out  Aquila  and  Priscilla,  abode  with  them  and 
wrought,  being  of  the  same  craft ;  and  reasoned  in  the 
synagogue  every  Sabbath  day,  and  persuaded  the  Jews 
and  the  Greeks.  Acts,  chap,  xviii.  1 — 5.  All  this  passed 
at  Corinth,  before  Silas  and  Timotheus  were  come  from 
Macedonia.  Acts,  chap,  xviii.  5.  If  this  was  the  first 
time  of  their  coming  up  with  him  after  their  separation  at 
Berea,  there  is  nothing  to  account  for  a  delay  so  contrary 
to  what  appears  from  the  history  itself  to  have  been  St. 
Paul's  plan  and  expectation.  This  is  a  conformity  of  a 
peculiar  species.  The  epistle  discloses  a  fact  which  is 
not  preserved  in  the  history,  but  which  makes  what  is  said 
in  the  history  more  significant,  probable,  and  consistent. 
The  history  bears  marks  of  an  omission  ;  the  epistle  by 
reference  furnishes  a  circumstance  which  supplies  that 
omission. 


No.  V. 

Chap.  ii.  14.  "  For  ye,  brethren,  became  followers 
of  the  churches  of  God  which  in  Judea  are  in  Christ 
Jesus  ;  for  ye  also  have  suffered  like  things  of  your  own 
countrymen  even  as  they  have  of  the  Jews." 

To  a  reader  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  it  might  seem, 
at  first  sight,  that  the  persecutions  which  the  preachers 
and  converts  of  Christianity  underwent  were  suffered  at 
the  hands  of  their  old  adversaries  the  Jews.  But,  if  we 
attend  carefully  to  the  accounts  there  delivered,  we  shall 
observe  that,  though  the  opposition  made  to  the  Gospel 
usually  originated  from  the  enmity  of  the  Jews,  yet  in 
almost  all  places  the  Jews  went  about  to  accomplish 
their   purpose   by   stirring   up   the    Gentile    inhabitants 


186         THE    FIRST    EPISTLE    TO    THE    THESSALONIANS. 

against  their  converted  countrymen.  Out  of  Judea  they 
had  not  power  to  do  much  mischief  in  any  other  way. 
This  was  the  case  at  Thessalonica  in  particular  :  "  The 
Jews  which  believed  not,  moved  with  envy,  set  all  the 
city  in  an  uproar.  Acts,  chap.  xvii.  ver.  5.  It  was  the 
same  a  short  time  afterwards  at  Berea  :  "  When  the  Jews 
of  Thessalonica  had  acknowledged  that  the  word  of  God 
was  preached  of  Pnul  at  Berea,  they  came  thither  also, 
and  stirred  up  the  people."  Acts,  chap.  xvii.  13.  And 
before  this  our  apostle  had  met  with  a  like  species  of 
persecution  in  his  progress  through  the  Lesser  Asia :  in 
every  city  "the  unbelieving  Jews  stirred  up  the  Gentiles, 
and  made  their  minds  evil-affected  against  the  brethren  :" 
Acts,  chap.  xiv.  2.  The  epistle  therefore  represents  the 
case  accurately  as  the  history  states  it.  It  was  the  Jews 
always  who  set  on  foot  the  persecutions  against  the 
apostles  and  their  followers.  He  speaks  truly  therefore 
of  them,  when  he  says  in  his  epistle,  "they  both  killed  the 
Lord  Jesus  and  their  own  prophets,  and  have  persecuted 
us, — forbidding  us  to  speak  unto  the  Gentiles  :"  ii.  15, 
16.  But  out  of  Judea  it  was  at  the  hands  of  the  Gen- 
tiles, it  was  "  of  their  own  countrymen,"  that  the  injuries 
they  underwent  were  immediately  sustained  :  "  Ye  have 
suffered  like  things  of  your  own  countrymen,  even  as  they 
have  of  the  Jews." 


No.   VI. 

The  apparent  discrepancies  between  our  epistle  and 
the  history,  though  of  magnitude  sufficient  to  repel  the 
imputation  of  confederacy  or  transcription,  (in  which 
view  they  form  a  part  of  our  argument,)  are  neither  nu- 
merous, nor  very  difficult  to  reconcile. 


( 


THE    FIRST    EPISTLE    TO    THE    THESSALONIANS.  187 

One  of  these  may  be  observed  in  the  ninth  and  tenth 
verses  of  the  second  chapter :  "  For  ye  remember,  breth- 
ren, our  labor  and  travel  ;  for,  laboring  night  and  day, 
because  w§  would  not  be  chargeable  unto  any  of  you,  we 
preached  unto  you  the  Gospel  of  God.  Ye  are  witnesses, 
and  God  also,  how  holily,  and  justly,  and  unblamably 
we  behaved  ourselves  among  you  that  believe."  A  per- 
son who  reads  this  passage  is  naturally  led  by  it  to  suppose 
that  the  writer  had  dwelt  at  Thessalonica  for  some  consid- 
erable time  ;  yet  of  St.  Paul's  ministry  in  that  city,  the  his- 
tory gives  no  other  account  than  the  following :  that  "  he 
came  to  Thessalonica,  where  was  a  synagogue  of  the  Jews; 
that,  as  his  manner  was,  he  went  in  unto  them,  and  three 
sabbath  days  reasoned  with  them  out  of  the  Scriptures ; 
that  some  of  them  believed  and  consorted  with  Paul  and 
Silas."  The  history  then  proceeds  to  tell  us  that  the 
Jews  which  believed  not  set  the  city  in  an  uproar,  and 
assaulted  the  house  of  Jason,  where  Paul  and  his  com- 
panions lodged  ;  that  the  consequence  of  this  outrage 
was,  that ''  the  brethren  immediately  sent  away  Paul  and 
Silas  by  night  unto  Berea:"  Acts,  chap.  xvii.  1 — 10. 
From  the  mention  of  his  preaching  three  Sabbath  days  in 
the  Jewish  synagogue,  and  from  the  want  of  any  farther 
specification  of  his  ministry,  it  has  usually  been  taken  for 
granted  that  Paul  did  not  continue  at  Thessalonica  more 
than  three  weeks.  This,  however,  is  inferred  without 
necessity.  It  appears  to  have  been  St.  Paul's  practice, 
in  almost  every  place  that  he  came  to,  upon  his  first  arri- 
val to  repair  to  the  synagogue.  He  thought  himself 
bound  to  propose  the  Gospel  to  the  Jews  first,  agreeably 
to  «i^hat  he  declared  at  Antioch  in  Pisidia  ;  "it  was  neces- 
sary that  the  word  of  God  should  first  have  been  spoken 
to  you  ;"  Acts,  chap.  xiii.  46.  If  the  Jews  rejected  his 
ministry,  he  quitted  the  synagogue,  and  betook  himself  to 


188         THE    FIRST    EPISTLE    TO    THE    THESSALONIANS. 

a  Gentile  audience.  At  Corinth,  upon  his  first  coming 
thither  he  reasoned  in  the  synagogue  every  sabbath ; 
"but  when  the  Jews  opposed  themselves,  and  blasphe- 
med, he  departed  thence,  expressly  telling  them,  "  From 
henceforth  I  will  go  unto  the  Gentiles  ;  and  he  remained 
in  that  city  a  year  and  six  months  :"  Acts,  chap,  xviii.  6 — 
11.  At  Ephesus,  in  like  manner,  for  the  space  of  three 
months  he  went  into  the  synagogue ;  but  "  when  divers 
were  hardened  and  believed  not,  but  spake  evil  of  that 
way,  he  departed  from  them  and  separated  the  disciples, 
disputing  daily  in  the  school  of  one  Tyrannus ;  and  this 
continued  by  the  space  of  two  years :"  Acts,  chap.  xix. 
9,  10.  Upon  inspecting  the  history,  I  see  nothing  in  it 
which  negatives  the  supposition  that  St.  Paul  pursued  the 
same  plan  at  Thessalonica  which  he  adopted  in  other 
places  ;  and  that,  though  he  resorted  to  the  synagogue 
only  three  sabbath  days,  yet  he  remained  in  the  city,  and 
in  the  exercise  of  his  ministry  amongst  the  Gentile  citi- 
zens, much  longer  ;  and  until  the  success  of  his  preach- 
ing ha;d  provoked  the  Jews  to  excite  the  tumult  and  insur- 
rection by  which  he  was  driven  away. 

Another  seeming  discrepancy  is  found  in  the  ninth 
verse  of  the  first  chapter  of  the  epistle  :  *'  For  they  them- 
selves show  of  us  what  manner  of  entering  in  we  had 
unto  you,  and  how  ye  turned  to  God  from  idols  to  serve 
the  living  and  true  God."  This  text  contains  an  asser- 
tion that,  by  means  of  St  Paul's  ministry  at  Thessalonica, 
man}^  idolatrous  Gentiles  had  been  brought  over  to  Chris- 
tianity. Yet  the  history,  in  describing  the  effects  of  that 
ministry,  only  says  that  "  some  of  the  Jews  believed,  and 
of  the  devout  Greeks  a  great  multitude,  and  of  the  cjjief 
women  not  a  few :"  chap.  xvii.  4.  The  devout  Greeks 
were  those  who  already  worshipped  the  one  true  God ; 


THE    FIRST    EPISTLE    TO    THE    THESSALONIANS.  189 

and  therefore  could  not  be  said,  by  embracing  Christi- 
anity, "  to  be  turned  to  God  from  idols. 

This  is  the  difficulty.  The  answer  may  be  assisted  by 
the  following  observations  :  The  Alexandrian  and  Cam- 
bridge manuscripts  read  (for  twi'  aeSo/nsvuv  'EllrjvMv  noXu 

Tjlr^dog^    jcov    aeSojusvcov    xai  'EXXtjvmv  txoXv   nXrjdog'    in    which 

reading  they  are  also  confirmed  by  the  Vulgate  Latin. 
And  this  reading  is,  in  my  opinion,  strongly  supported  by 
the  considerations,  first,  that  ^i  aeSouspoi  alone,  i.  e.,  with- 
out 'EXXyveg,  is  used  in  this  sense  in  the  same  chapter — 

Paul,  being  come  to  Athens,  dieXsyero  sv  rri  awayMyri  joig 
laSaioig    y.at   joig   aeSo/uevoig  ;     secondly,    that    aeSofiBvoi,    and 

EXXrjveg  nowhere  come  together.  The  expression  is  redun- 
dant. The  ot  asSo/itet'oi'  must  be  'EXXrjveg.  Thirdly,  that 
the  aui  is  much  more  likely  to  have  been  left  out  incuria 
manCis  than  to  have  been  put  in.  Or,  after  all,  if  we  be 
not  allowed  to  change  the  present  reading,  which  is 
undoubtedly  retained  by  a  great  plurality  of  copies,  may 
not  the  passage  in  the  history  be  considered  as  describing 
only  the  effects  of  St.  Paul's  discourses  during  the  three 
sabbath  days  in  which  he  preached  in  the  synagogue  ? 
and  may  it  not  be  true,  as  we  have  remarked  above,  that 
his  application  to  the  Gentiles  at  large,  and  his  success 
amongst  them,  was  posterior  to  this  ? 


\\>  .  \^^<..^J 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE  SECOND  EPISTLE  TO  THE  THESSALONIANS. 

No.     I. 

It  may  seem  odd  to  allege  obscurity  itself  as  an  argu- 
ment, or  to  draw  a  proof  in  favor  of  a  writing  from  that 
which  is  naturally  considered  as  the  principal  defect  in 
its  composition.  The  present  epistle,  however,  furnishes 
a  passage,  hitherto  unexplained,  and  probably  inexpUcable 
by  us,  the  existence  of  which,  under  the  darkness  and 
difficulties  that  attend  it,  can  be  accounted  for  only  upon 
the  supposition  of  the  epistle  being  genuine ;  and  upon 
that  supposition  is  accounted  for  with  great  ease.  The 
passage  which  I  allude  to  is  found  in  the  second  chapter : 
"  That  day  shall  not  come,  except  there  come  a  falling 
away  first,  and  that  man  of  sin  be  revealed,  the  son  of 
perdition,  who  opposeth  and  exalteth  himself  above  all 
that  is  called  God,  or  that  is  worshipped ;  so  that  he  as 
God  sitteth  in  the  temple  of  God,  showing  himself  that  he 
is  God.  Remember  ye  not  that  when  I  was  yet  with 
YOU  I  TOLD  YOU 'THESE  THINGS  ?  And  iiow  ye  kuow  what 
withholdcth,  that  he  might  be  revealed  in  his  time  :  for  the 
mystery  of  iniquity  doth  already  work,  only  he  that  now 
letteth  will  let,  until  he  be  taken  out  of  the  way ;  and  then 
shall  that  wicked  be  revealed,  whom  the  Lord  shall  con- 
sume with  the  spirit  of  his  mouth,  and  shall  destroy  with 
the  brightness  of  his  coming."  It  were  superfluous  to 
prove,  because  it  is  in  vain  to  deny,  that  this  passage  is 


THE    SECOND    EPISTLE    TO    THE    TIIESSALONIANS.        191 

involved  in  great  obscurity,  more  especially  the  clauses 
distinguished  by  Italics.  Now  the  observation  I  have  to 
offer  is  founded  upon  this,  that  the  passage  expressly 
refers  to  a  conversation  which  the  author  had  previously 
holden  witlPthe  Thessalonians  upon  the  same  subject : 
"  Remember  ye  not  that  when  I  was  yet  with  you  /  told 
you  these  things  ?  And  now  ye  know  what  withholdeth." 
If  such  conversation  actually  passed ;  if,  whilst  "  he  was 
yet  with  them,  he  told  them  those  things,"  then  it  follows 
that  the  epistle  is  authentic.  And  of  the  reality  of  this 
conversation  it  appears  to  be  a  proof,  that  what  is  said  in 
the  epistle  might  be  understood  by  those  who  had  been 
present  to  such  conversation,  and  yet  be  incapable  of 
being  explained  by  any  other.  No  man  writes  unintelli- 
gibly on  purpose.  But  it  may  easily  happen  that  a  part 
of  a  letter  which  relates  to  a  subject  upon  which  the  par- 
ties had  conversed  together  before,  which  refers  to  what 
had  been  before  said,  which  is  in  truth  a  portion  or  con- 
tinuation of  a  former  discourse,  may  be  utterly  without 
meaning  to  a  stranger  who  should  pick  up  the  letter  upon 
the  road,  and  yet  be  perfectly  clear  to  the  person  to 
whom  it  is  directed,  and  with  whom  the  previous  com- 
munication had  passed.  And  if,  in  a  letter  which  thus 
accidentally  fell  into  my  hands,  I  found  a  passage  ex- 
pressly referring  to  a  former  conversation,  and  difficult 
to  be  explained  without  knowing  that  conversation,  I 
should  consider  this  very  difficulty  as  a  proof  that  the 
conversation  had  actually  passed,  and  consequently  that 
the  letter  contained  the  real  correspondence  of  real  per- 
sons. 


192        THE    SECOND    EPISTLE    TO    THE    THESSALONIANS. 


No.    IJ. 

Chap.  iii.  8.  "  Neither  did  we  eat  any  man's  bread 
for  nought,  but  wrought  with  labor  night  and  day,  that 
we  might  not  be  chargeable  to  any  of  you :  not  because 
we  have  no  power,  but  to  make  ourselves  an  ensample 
unto  you  to  follow." 

In  a  letter  purporting  to  have  been  written  to  another 
of  the  Macedonic  churches,  we  find  the  following  decla- 
ration 

"  Now,  ye  Philippians,  know,  also,  that  in  the  begin- 
ning of  the  Gospel,  when  I  departed  from  Macedonia,  no 
church  communicated  with  me  as  conceiving  giving  and 
receiving  but  ye  only.'^ 

The  conformity  between  these  two  passages  is  strong 
and  plain.  They  confine  the  transaction  to  the  same 
period.  The  Epistle  to  the  Philippians  refers  to  what 
passed  "  in  the  beginning  of  the  Gospel,"  that  is  to  say, 
during  the  first  preaching  of  the  Gospel  on  that  side  of  the 
^gean  Sea.  The  Epistle  to  the  Thessalonians  speaks 
of  the^apostle's  conduct  in  that  city  upon  "  his  first  en- 
trance in  unto  them,"  which  the  history  informs  us  was 
in  the  course  of  his  first  visit  to  the  peninsula  of  Greece. 

As  St.  Paul  tells  the  Philippians  "  that  no  church  com- 
municated with  him,  as  concerning  giving  and  receiving, 
but  they  only,"  he  could  not,  consistently  with  the  truth 
of  this  declaration,  have  received  any  thing  from  the 
neighboring  church  of  Thessalonica.  What  thus  appears 
by  general  implication  in  an  epistle  to  another  church, 
when  he  writes  to  the  Thessalonians  themselves,  is 
noticed  expressly  and  particularly :  "  Neither  did  we  eat 
any  man's  bread  for  nought,  but  wrought  night  and  day, 
that  we  might  not  be  chargeable  to  any  of  you." 


THE    SECOND    EPISTLE    TO    THE    THESSALONIANS,        193 

The  texts  here  cited  fjjirther,  also,  exhibit  a  mark  of 
conformity  with  what  St.'Paul  is  made  to  say  of  himself 
ill  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles.  The  apostle  not  only  reminds 
the  Thessalonians  that  he  had  not  been  chargeable  to  any 
of  them,  but  he  states  likewise  the  motive  which  dictated 
this  reserve ;  "  not  because  we  have  not  power,  but  to 
make  ourselves  an  ensample  unto  you  to  follow  us.'* 
Chap.  iii.  9.  This  conduct,  and  what  is  much  more  pre- 
cise, the  end  which  he  had  in  view  by  it,  was  the  very 
same  as  that  which  the  history  attributes  to  St.  Paul  in  a 
discourse  which  it  represents  him  to  have  addressed  to 
the  elders  of  the  church  of  Ephesus  :  '•  Yea,  ye  your- 
selves also  know  that  these  hands  have  ministered  unto 
my  necessities,  and  to  them  that  were  with  me.  I  have 
showed  you  all  things,  how  that  so  laboring  ye  ought  to 
support  the  v^eak.^'  Acts,  chap.  xx.  34.  The  sentim.ent 
in  the  epistle  and  in  the  speech  is  in  both  parts  of  it  so 
much  alike,  and  yet  the  words  which  convey  it  show  so 
little  of  imitation  or  even  of  resemblance,  that  the  agree- 
ment cannot  well  be  explained  without  supposing  the 
speech  and  the  letter  to  have  really  proceeded  from  the 
same  person. 


No.  III. 

Our  reader  remembers  the  passage  in  the  First  Epistle 
to  thTThessalonians,"in  which  St.  Paul  spoke  of  the  com- 
ing of  Christ ;  "  This  we  say  unto  you  by  the  word  of  the 
Lord,  that  we  which  are  aUve,  and  remain  unto  the  com- 
ing of  the  Lord,  shall  not  prevent  them  which  are  asleep: 
for  the  Lord  himself  shall  descend  from  heaven,  and  the 
dead  in  Christ  shall  rise  first ;  then  we  which  are  alive 
and  remain  shall  be  caught  up  together  with  them  in  the 

9 


194       THE    SECOND    EPISTLE    TO    TH|:    THESSALONIANS. 

clouds,  and  so  shall  we  be  ever  with  the  Lord. — But  ye, 
brethren,  are  not  in  darkness,  that  that  day  should  over- 
take you  as  a  thief."  1  Thess.  iv.  15 — 17,  and  chap.  v.  4. 
It  should  seem  that  the  Thessalonians,  or  ^ome,  how- 
evei^  amongst  them,  had  from  this  passage  conceived  an 
opinion  (and  that  not  very  unnaturally)  that  the  coming 
of  Christ  was  to  take  place  instantly,  oxl  evsuTrjxev  ;*  and 
that  this  persuasion  had  produced,  as  it  well  might,  much 
agitation  in  the  church.  The  apostle  therefore  now 
writes,  amongst  other  purposes,  to  quiet  this  alarm,  and 
to  rectify  the  misconstruction  that  had  been'put  upon  his 
words : — "  Now  we  beseech  you,  brethren,  by  the  com- 
ing of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  by  our  gathering 
together  unto  him,  that  ye  be  not  soon  shaken  in  mind, 
or  be  troubled,  neither  by  spirit,  nor  by  word,  nor  by 
letter  as  from  uSy  as  that  the  day  of  Christ  is  at  hand." 
If  the  allusion  which  we  contend  for  be  admitted,  namely, 
if  it  be  admitted  that  the  passage  in  the  second  epistle 
relates  to  the  passage  in  the  first,  it  amounts  to  a  consid- 
erable pi^oof  of  the  genuineness  of  both  epistles.  I  have 
no  conception,  because  I  know  no  example,  of  such  a 
device  in  a  forgery,  as  first  to  frame  an  ambiguous  pas- 
sage in  a  letter,  then  to  represent  the  persons  to  whom 
the  letter  is  addressed  as  mistaking  the  meaning  of  the 
passage,  and  lastly,  to  write  a  second  letter  in  order  to 
correct  this  mistake. 

I  have  said  that  this  argument  arises  out  of  the  text,  if 
the  allusion  be  admitted  :  fori  am  not  ignorant  that  many 
expositors  understand  the  passage  in  the  second  epistle, 
as  referring  to  some  forged  letters,  which  had  been  pro- 
duced in  St.  Paul's  name,  and  in  which  the  apostle  had 
been  made  to  say  that  the  coming  of  Christ  was  then  at 

*  'On  £vt(JTr]Ktv,  nempe  hoc  anno,   says  Grotius,  evcarnKtv  hie  dicitur  de  re 
praesenti,  ut  Rom.  viii.  38 ;  1  Cor,  iii.  22;  Gal.  i.  4;  Heb.  ix.  9. 


THE    SECOND    EPISTLE    TO    THE    THES3AL0NIANS.       195 

hand.      In  defence,  however,  of  the  explanation  which 
we  propose,  the  reader  is  desired  to  observe, — 

1.  The  strong  fact,  that  there  exists  a  passage  in  the 
first  epistle,  to  which  that  in  the  second  is  capable  of 
being  referred,  i.  e.,  which  accounts  for  the  error  the 
writer  is  solicitous  to  remove.  Had  no  other  epistle 
than  the  second  been  extant,  and  had  it  under  these  cir- 
cumstances^ came  to  be  considered,  whether  the  text 
before  us  related  to  a  forged  epistle  or  to  some  miscon- 
struction of  a  true  one,  many  conjectures  and  many  pro- 
babilities might  have  been  admitted  in  the  inquiry,  which 
can  have  little  weight  when  an  epistle  is  produced  con- 
taining the  very  sort  of  passage  we  were  seeking,  that  is,  a 
passage  liable  to  the  misinterpretation  which  the  apostle 
protests  against. 

2.  That  the  clause  which  introduces  the  passage  in  the 
second  epistle  bears  a  particular  affinity  to  what  is  found 
in  the  passage  cited  from  the  first  epistle.  The  clause  is 
this  :  "  We  beseech  you,  brethren,  by  the  coming  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  hy  our  gathering  together  unto 
him."  Now  in  the  first  epistle  the  description  of  the 
coming  of  Christ  is  accompanied  with  the  mention  of  this 
very  circumstance  of  his  saints  being  collected  round 
him.  "  The  Lord  himself  shall  descend  from  heaven 
with  a  shout,  with  the  voice  of  the  archangel  and  with 
the  trump  of  God,  and  the  dead  in  Christ  shall  rise  first ; 
then  we  which  are  alive  and  remain  shall  be  caught  up 
together  with  them  in  the  clouds,  to  meet  the  Lord  in  the 
air."  1  Thess.  chap.  iv.  16,  17.  This  I  suppose  to  be 
the  "  gathering  together  unto  him"  intended  in  the  second 
epistle ;  and  that  the  author,  when  he  used  these  words, 
retained  in  his  thoughts  what  he  had  written  on  the  sub- 
ject before. 

3.  The  second  epistle  is  written  in  the  joint  name  of 


196       THE    SECOND    EPISTLE    TO    THE    THESSALONIANS. 

Paul,  Silvanus,  and  Timotheus,  and  it  cautions  the  Thes- 
salonians  against  being  misled  "by  letter  as  from  us"  {(^g 
di  fiuoiv).  Do  not  these  words  8i  t'^o^r,  appropriate  the  ref- 
erence to  some  writing  which  bore  the  name  of  these 
three  teachers  ?  Now  this  circumstance,  which  is  a  very 
close  one,  belongs  to  the  epistle  at  present  in  our  hands  ; 
for  the  epistle  which  we  call  the  First  Epistle  to  the 
Thessalonians  contains  these  names  in  its  superscription. 
4.  The  words  in  the  original,  as  far  as  they  are  mate- 
I'ial   to  be   stated,  are  these:  sig  to  /uij  raj^fw;   aaXevdrjvai, 

{ifiag  arro  za  voog,  firjis  ■d'goeiadai,  I^V^^  ^*"  nrsv/uaTog,  firjXB  diu 
Xoya^  /urjis  dl    snioToXrjg^  &g   di  r^^oiv^  &g   biv  sveaTrjuev  r^  i^^eqa  m 

Xqiars.     Under  the  weight  of  the  preceding  observations, 

may  not  these  words    f^rjTB  dia   koys,  /utjts  8i   entOToXrig,  &g  dl 

•^lucov,  be  construed  to  signify  quasi  nos  quid  tale  aut 
dixerimus  aut  scrip serimus*  intimating  that  their  words 
had  been  mistaken,  and  that  they  had  in  truth  said  or 
written  no  such  thing  ? 

*  Should  a  contrary  interpretation  be  preferred,  I  do  not  think  that  it  im- 
plies the  conclusion  that  a  false  epistle  had  then  been  published  in  the  apos- 
tle's name.  It  will  completely  satisfy  the  allusion  in  the  text  to  allow  that 
some  one  or  other  at  Thessalonica  had  pretended  to  have  been  told  by  St. 
Paul  and  his  companions,  or  to  have  seen  a  letter  from  them,  in  which  they 
had  said,  that  the  day  of  Christ  was  at  hand.  In  like  manner  as.  Acts  xv. 
1,  24,  it  is  recorded  that  some  had  pretended  to  have  received  instructions 
from  the  church  at  Jerusalem,  which  had  been  received,  "  to  whom  they 
gave  no  such  commandment."  And  thus  Dr.  Benson  interpreted  the  pas- 
sage jiT)TC  BpoEKjOai,  jxriTC  Sia  Trrfu^iaroj,  tii7r£  6ia  Xoyb,jjinT£  6i  CTriaroXrn,  if  Si  fjjiwv, 

"  nor  be  dismayed  by  any  revelation,  or  discourse,  or  epistle,  which  any  one 
shall  pretend  to  have  heard  or  received  from  us." 


CHAPTER  XL 

THE  FIRST  EPISTLE  TO  TIMOTHY. 

From  the  third  verse  of  the  first  chapter, "  as  I  besought 
thee  to  abide  still  at  Ephesus  when  I  went  into  Macedo- 
nia," it  is  evident  that  this  epistle  was  written  soon  after 
St.  Paul  had  gone  to  Macedonia  from  Ephesus.  Dr. 
Benson  fixes  its  date  to  the  time  of  St.  Paul's  journey- 
recorded  in  the  beginning  of  the  twentieth  chapter  of  the 
Acts ;  "  And  after  the  uproar  (excited  by  Demetrius  at 
Ephesus)  was  ceased,  Paul  called  unto  him  the  disciples, 
and  embraced  them,  and  departed  for  to  go  into  Mace- 
donia." And  in  this  opinion  Dr.  Benson  is  followed  by 
Michaelis,  as  he  was  preceded  by  the  greater  part  of  the 
commentators  who  have  considered  the  question.  There 
is,  however,  one  objection  to  the  hypothesis,  which  these 
learned  men  appear  to  me  to  have  overlooked :  and  it  is 
no  other  than  this,  that  the  superscription  of  the  Second 
Epistle  to  the  Corinthians  seems  to  prove  that,  at  the 
time  St.  Paul  is  supposed  by  them  to  have  written  this 
epistle  to  Timothy,  Timothy  in  truth  was  with  St.  Paul 
in  Macedonia.  Paul,  as  it  is  related  in  the  Acts,  left 
Ephesus  •'  for  to  go  into  Macedonia."  When  he  had  got 
into  Macedonia,  he  wrote  his  Second  Epistle  to  the  Co- 
rinthians. Concerning  this  point  there  exists  little  vari- 
ety of  opinion.  It  is  plainly  indicated  by  the  contents  of 
the  epistle.  It  is  also  strongly  implied  that  the  epistle 
was  written  soon  after  the  apostle's  arrival  in  Macedo- 
nia ;  for  he  begins  his  letter  by  a  train  of  reflection,  refer- 


198  THE    FIRST    EPISTLE    TO    TIx\IOTHY. 

ring  to  his  persecutions  in  Asia  as  to  recent  transactions, 
as  to  dangers  from  which  he  had  lately  been  delivered. 
But  in  the  salutation  with  which  the  epistle  opens,  Timothy 
was  joined  loith  St.  Paul,  and,  consequently,  could  not  at 
that  time  be  "  left  behind  at  Ephesus."  And,  as  to  the 
only  solution  of  the  difficulty  which  can  be  thought  of, 
viz.  that  Timothy,  though  he  was  left  behind  at  Ephe- 
sus upon  St.  Paul's  departure  from  Asia,  yet  might  follow 
him  so  soon  after  as  to  come  up  with  the  apostle  in  Mace- 
donia, before  he  wrote  his  epistle  to  the  Corinthians  ;  that 
supposition  is  inconsistent  with  the  terms  and  tenor  of 
the  epistle  throughout.  For  the  writer  speaks  uniformly 
of  his  intention  to  return  to  Timothy  at  Ephesus,  and  not 
of  his  expecting  Timothy  to  come  to  him  in  Macedonia : 
"  These  things  write  I  unto  thee,  hoping  to  come  unto  thee 
shortly  ;  but,  if  I  tarry  long,  that  thou  mayest  know  how 
thou  oughtest  to  behave  thyself:"  chap.  iii.  14,  15.  "  Till 
I  come,  give  attendance  to  reading,  to  exhortation,  to 
doctrine:"  chap.  iv.  13. 

vSince,  therefore,  the  leaving  of  Timothy  behind  at 
Ephesus,  when  Paul  went  into  Macedonia,  suits  not  with 
any  journey  into  Macedonia  recorded  in  the  Acts,  I  con- 
cur with  Bishop  Pearson  in  placing  the  date  of  this  epistle, 
and  the  journey  referred  to  in  it,  at  a  period  subsequent 
to  St.  Paul's  first  imprisonment  at  Rome,  and  consequently 
subsequent  to  the  era  up  to  which  the  Acts  of  the  Apos- 
tles brings  his  history.  The  only  difficulty  which  attends 
our  opinion  is,  that  St.  Paul  must,  according  to  us,  have 
come  to  Ephesus  after  his  liberation  at  Rome,  contrary 
as  it  should  seem  to  what  he  foretold  to  the  Ephesian 
elders,  *'  that  they  should  see  his  face  no  more."  And  it 
is  to  save  the  infallibility  of  this  prediction,  and  for  no 
other  reason  of  weight,  that  an  earlier  date  is  assigned 
to  this   epistle.     The  prediction  itself,  however,   when 


THE    FIRST    lil'ISTLE    TO    TIMOTHY.  199 

considered  in  connection  with  the  circumstances  under 
which  it  was  delivered,  does  not  seem  to  demand  so  much 
anxiety.  The  words  in  question  are  found  in  the  twenty- 
fifth  verse  of  the  twentieth  chapter  of  the  Acts  :  "  And 
now,  behold,  I  know  that  ye  all,  among  whom  I  have 
gone  preaching  the  kingdom  of  God,  shall  see  my  face 
no  more."  In  the  twenty-second  and  twenty-third  verses 
of  the  same  chapter,  i.  e.  two  verses  before,  the  apostle 
makes  this  declaration  :  "  And  now,  behold,  I  go  bound 
in  the  spirit  unto  Jerusalem,  not  knowing  the  things  that 
shall  befall  me  there  ;  save  that  the  Holy  Ghost  witnesseth 
in  every  city,  saying  that  bonds  and  afflictions  abide 
me."  This  "  witnessing  of  the  Holy  Ghost"  was  un- 
doubtedly prophetic  and  supernatural.  But  it  went  no 
farther  than  to  foretell  that  bonds  and  afflictions  awaited 
him.  And  I  can  very  well  conceive  that  this  might  be 
all  which  was  communicated  to  the  apostle  by  extraordi- 
nary revelation,  and  that  the  rest  was  the  conclusion  of 
his  own  mind,  the  desponding  inference  which  he  drew 
from  strong  and  repeated  intimations  of  approaching 
danger.  And  the  expression,  "  I  know,"  which  St.  Paul 
here  uses,  does  not,  perhaps,  when  applied  to  future 
events,  affecting  himself,  convey  an  assertion  so  positive 
and  absolute  as  we  may  at  first  sight  apprehend.  In  the 
first  chapter  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Philippians,  and  the 
twenty-fifth  verse,  "  I  know,"  says  he,  "  that  I  shall  abide 
and  continue  with  you  all,  for  your  furtherance  and  joy 
of  faith."  Notwithstanding  this  strong  declaration,  in  the 
second  chapter  and  twenty-third  verse  of  this  same  epis- 
tle, and  speaking  also  of  the  very  same  event,  he  is  con- 
tent to  use  a  language  of  some  doubt  and  uncertainty : 
"  Him,  therefore,  I  hope  to  send  presently,  so  soon  as  I 
shall  see  how  it  will  go  with  me.  But  /  trust  in  the  Lord 
that  I  also  myself  shall  come  shortly :"  and,  a  few  verses 


200  THE    FIRST    EPISTLE    TO    TIMOTHY. 

preceding  these,  he  not  only  seems  to  doubt  of  his  safety, 
but  almost  to  despair  ;  to  contemplate  the  possibility  at 
least  of  his  condemnation  and  martyrdom  :  ''  Yea,  and  if 
I  be  offered  upon  the  sacrifice  and  service  of  your  faith,  I 
joy  and  rejoice  with  you  all." 


No.    I. 

But  can  we  show  that  St.  Paul  visited  Ephesus  after 
his  liberation  at  Rome  ?  Or,  rather,  can  we  collect  any 
hints  from  his  other  letters  which  make  it  probable  that 
he  did  ?  If  we  can,  then  we  have  a  coincidence.  If  we 
cannot,  we  have  only  an  unauthorized  supposition,  to 
which  the  exigency  of  the  case  compels  us  to  resort. 
Now,  for  this  purpose,  let  us  examine  the  Epistle  to  the 
Philippians  and  the  Epistle  to  Philemon.  These  two 
epistles  purport  to  be  written  whilst  St.  Paul  was  yet  a 
prisoner  at  Rome.  To  the  Philippians  he  writes  as  fol- 
lows :  "  I  trust  in  the  Lord  that  I  also  myself  shall  come 
shortly."  To  Philemon,  who  was  a  Colossian,  he  gives 
this  direction :  "  But,  withal,  prepare  me  also  a  lodging, 
for  I  trust  that,  through  your  prayers,  I  shall  be  given 
unto  you."  An  inspection  of  the  map  will  show  us  that 
Colosse  was  a  city  of  the  Lesser  Asia,  lying  eastward,  and 
at  no  great  distance  from  Ephesus.  Philippi  was  on 
the  other,  i.  e.  the  western,  side  of  the  ^gean  Sea.  If 
the  apostle  executed  his  purpose  ;  if,  in  pursuance  of  the 
intention  expressed  in  his  letter  to  Philemon,  he  came  to 
Colosse  soon  after  he  was  set  at  liberty  at  Rome,  it  is 
very  improbable  that  he  would  omit  to  visit  Ephesus, 
which  lay  so  near  to  it,  and  where  he  had  spent  three 
years  of  his  ministry.  As  he  was  also  under  a  promise 
to  the  church  of  Philippi  to  see  them  "  shortly ;"  if  he 


THE    FIRST    EPISTLE    TO    TIMOTHY.  201 

passed  from  Colosse  to  Philippi,  or  from  Philippi  to  Colosse, 
he  could  hardly  avoid  taking  Ephesus  in  his  way. 


No.   II. 

Chap.  V.  9.  "  Let  not  a  widow  be  taken  into  the  num- 
ber under  threescore  years  old." 

This  accords  with  the  account  delivered  in  the  sixth 
chapter  of  the  Acts.  "  And  in  those  days,  when  the 
number  of  the  disciples  was  multiplied,  there  arose  a 
murmuring  of  the  Grecians  against  the  Hebrews,  because 
their  widows  were  neglected  in  the  daily  ministration^ 
It  appears  that,  from  the  first  formation  of  the  Christian 
church,  provision  was  made  out  of  the  public  funds  of  the 
society  for  the  indigent  widows  who  belonged  to  it.  The 
history,  we  have  seen,  distinctly  records  the  existence  of 
such  an  institution  at  Jerusalem,  a  few  years  after  our 
Lord's  ascension ;  and  is  led  to  the  mention  of  it  very 
incidentally,  viz.  by  a  dispute,  of  which  it  was  the  occa- 
sion, and  which  produced  important  consequences  to  the 
Christian  community.  The  epistle,  without  being  sus- 
pected of  borrowing  from  the  history,  refers,  briefly 
indeed,  but  decisively,  to  a  similar  establishment,  sub- 
sisting some  years  afterwards  at  Ephesus.  This  agree- 
ment indicates  that  both  writings  were  founded  upon 
real  circumstances. 

But,  in  this  article,  the  material  thing  to  be  noticed  is 
the  mode  of  expression  :  "  Let  not  a  widow  be  taken  into 
the  number." — No  previous  account  or  explanation  is 
given,  to  which  these  words,  "into  the  number,"  can 
refer  ;  but  the  direction  comes  concisely  and  unpre- 
paredly ;  "  Let  not  a  widow  be  taken  into  the  number." 
Now  this  is  the  way  in  which  a  man  writes  who  is  con- 


202  THE    FIRST    EPISTLE    TO    TIMOTHY. 

scious  that  he  is  writing  to  persons  already  acquainted 
with  the  subject  of  his  letter ;  and  who,  he  knows,  will 
readily  apprehend  and  apply  what  he  says  by  virtue  of 
their  being  so  acquainted ;  but  it  is  not  the  way  in  which 
a  man  writes  upon  any  other  occasion  ;  and,  least  of  all, 
in  which  a  man  would  draw  up  a  feigned  letter,  or  intro- 
duce a  supposititious  fact^ 


No.  III. 

Chap.  iii.  2,  3.  *'  A  bishop  then  must  be  blameless,  the 
husband  of  one  wife,  vigilant,  sober,  of  good  behavior, 
given  to  hospitality,  apt  to  teach ;    not  given  to  wine,  no 

*  It  is  not  altogether  unconnected  with  our  general  purpose  to  remark,  in 
the  passage  before  us,  the  selection  and  reserve  which  St.  Paul  recommends 
to  the  governors  of  the  church  of  Ephesus  in  the  bestowing  relief  upon  the 
poor,  because  it  refutes  a  calumny  which  has  been  insinuated,  that  the  lib- 
erality of  the  first  Christians  was  an  artifice  to  catch  converts ;  or  one  of 
the  temptations,  however,  by  which  the  idle  and  mendicant  were  drawn 
into  this  society  :  "  Let  not  a  widow  be  taken  into  the  number  under  three- 
score years  old,  having  been  the  wife  of  one  man,  well  reported  of  for  good 
works  ;  if  she  have  brought  up  children,  if  she  have  lodged  strangers,  if  she 
have  washed  the  saints'  feet,  if  she  have  relieved  the  afflicted,  if  she  have 
diligently  followed  every  good  work.  But  the  younger  widows  refuse,"  (v. 
9,  10,  11.)  And,  in  another  place,  "  If  any  man  or  woman  that  believeth 
have  widows,  let  them  relieve  them,  and  let  not  the  church  be  charged ;  that 
it  may  relieve  them  that  are  widows  indeed."  And  to  the  same  effect,  or 
rather  more  to  our  present  purpose,  the  Apostle  writes  in  the  Second  Epis- 
tle to  the  Thessalonians :  "  Even  when  we  were  with  you,  this  we  com- 
manded you,  that,  if  any  would  not  work,  neither  should  he  eat,"  i.  e.  at 
the  public  expense.  "  For  we  hear  that  there  are  some  which  walk  among 
you  disorderly,  working  not  at  all,  but  are  busy-bodies.  Now  them  that  are 
such  we  command  and  exhort  by  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that  with  quiet- 
ness they  work,  and  eat  their  own  bread."  Could  a  designing  or  dissolute 
poor  take  advantage  of  bounty  regulated  with  so  much  caution ;  or  could 
the  mind  which  dictated  those  sober  and  prudent  directions  be  influenced  in 
his  recommendations  of  pubUc  charity  by  any  other  than  the  properest  mo- 
tives of  beneficence  1 


THE    FIRST    EPISTLE    TO    TIMOTHY.  203 

striker,  nor  greedy  of  filthy  lucre  ;  but  patient,  not  a 
brawler,  not  covetous :  one  that  ruleth  well  his  own 
house." 

''  No  striker ;"  That  is  the  article  which  I  single  out 
from  the  collection,  as  evincing  the  antiquity  at  least,  if 
not  the  genuineness,  of  the  epistle ;  because  it  is  an  arti- 
cle which  no  man  would  have  made  the  subject  of  cau- 
tion who  lived  in  an  advanced  era  of  the  church.  It 
agreed  with  the  infancy  of  the  society,  and  with  no  other 
state  of  it.  After  the  government  of  the  church  had 
acquired  the  dignified  form  which  it  soon  and  naturally 
assumed,  this  injunction  could  have  no  place.  Would  a 
person  who  lived  under  a  hierarchy,  such  as  the  Chris- 
tian hierarchy  became  when  it  had  settled  into  a  regular 
establishment,  have  thought  it  necessary  to  prescribe, 
concerning  the  qualification  of  a  bishop,  *'  that  he  should 
be  no  striker  ?"  And  this  injunction  would  be  equally 
alien  from  the  imagination  of  the  writer,  whether  he 
wrote  in  his  own  character,  or  personated  that  of  an 
apostle. 


No.  IV. 

Chap.  V.  23.  '*  Drink  no  longer  water,  but  use  a  lit- 
tle wine  for  thy  stomach's  sake  and^  thine  often  infirmi- 
ties." 

Imagine  an  impostor  sitting  down  to  forge  an  epistle 
in  the  name  of  St.  Paul.  Is  it  credible  that  it  should 
come  into  bis  head  to  give  such  a  direction  as  this ;  so 
remote  from  every  thing  of  doctrine  or  discipline,  every 
thing  of  public  concern  to  the  religion  or  the  church,  or 
to  any  sect,  order,  or  party  in  it,  and  from  every  purpose 
with  which  such  an  epistle  could  be  written  ?      It  seems 


204  THE    FIRST    EPISTLE    TO    TIMOTHY. 

to  me  that  nothing  but  reality,  that  is,  the  real  valetudi- 
nary situation  of  a  real  person,  could  have  suggested  a 
thought  of  so  domestic  a  nature. 

But,  if  the  peculiarity  of  the  advice  be  observable,  the 
place  in  which  it  stands  is  more  so.  The  context  is  this : 
"  Lay  hands  suddenly  on  no  man,  neither  be  partaker  of 
other  men's  sins :  keep  thyself  pure.  Drink  no  longer 
water,  but  use  a  little  wine  for  thy  stomach's  sake  and 
thine  often  infirmities.  Some  men's  sins  are  open  before- 
hand, going  before  to  judgment ;  and  some  men  they 
follow  after."  The  direction  to  Timothy  about  his  diet 
stands  between  two  sentences  as  wide  from  the  subject 
as  possible.  The  train  of  thought  seems  to  be  broken  to 
let  it  in.  Now  when  does  this  happen  ?  It  happens 
when  a  man  writes  as  he  remembers  ;  when  he  puts 
down  an  article  that  occurs  the  moment  it  occurs,  lest  he 
should  afterwards  forget  it.  Of  this  the  passage  before 
us  bears  strongly  the  appearance.  In  actual  letters,  in 
the  negligence  of  real  correspondence,  examples  of  this 
kind  frequently  take  place  :  seldom,  I  believe,  in  any 
other  production.  For  the  moment  a  man  regards  what 
he  writes  as  a  composition^  which  the  author  of  a  forgery 
would,  of  all  others,  be  the  first  to  do,  notions  of  order,  in 
the  arrangement  and  succession  of  his  thoughts,  present 
themselves  to  his  judgment,  and  guide  his  pen. 


No.  V. 

Chap.  i.  15,  16.  "  This  is  a  faithful  saying,  and  worthy 
of  all  acceptation,  that  Christ  Jesus  came  into  the  world 
to  save  sinners  ;  of  whom  I  am  chief.  Howbeit,  for  this 
cause  I  obtained   mercy,  that  in  me   first  Jesus  Christ 


THE    FIRST    EPISTLE    TO    TIMOTHY.  205 

might  show  forth  all  long-suffering,  for  a  pattern  to  them 
which  should  hereafter  believe  in  him  to  life  everlasting." 
What  was  the  mercy  which  St.  Paul  here  commemo- 
rates, and  what  was  the  crime  of  which  he  accuses  him- 
self, is  apparent  from  the  verses  immediately  preceding: 
'  I  thank  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord,  who  hath  enabled  me, 
for  that  he  counted  me  faithful,  putting  me  into  the  min- 
istry ;  who  was  before  a  blasphemer,  and  a  persecutor,  and 
injurious  :  but  I  obtained  mercy,  because  I  did  it  igno- 
rantly  in  unbelief:"  chap.  i.  12,  13.  The  whole  quota- 
tion plainly  refers  to  St.  Paul's  original  enmity  to  the 
Christian  name,  the  interposition  of  Providence  in  his 
conversion,  and  his  subsequent  designation  to  the  minis- 
try of  the  Gospel :  and  by  this  reference  affirms  indeed 
the  substance  of  the  Apostle's  history  delivered  in  the 
Acts.  But  what  in  the  passage  strikes  my  mind  most 
powerfully  is  the  observation  that  is  raised  out  of  the  fact. 
"  For  this  cause  I  obtained  mercy,  that  in  me  first  Jesus 
Christ  might  show  forth  all  long-suffering,  for  a  pattern 
to  them  which  should  hereafter  believe  on  him  to  life 
everlasting."  It  is  a  just  and  solemn  reflection,  spring- 
ing from  the  circumstances  of  the  author's  conversion,  or 
rather  from  the  impression  which  that  great  event  had 
left  upon  his  memory.  It  will  be  said,  perhaps,  that  an 
impostor,  acquainted  with  St.  Paul's  history,  may  have 
put  such  a  sentiment  into  his  mouth  ;  or,  what  is  the  same 
thing,  into  a  letter  drawn  up  in  his  name.  But  vv^here, 
we  may  ask,  is  such  an  impostor  to  be  found  ?  The  piety, 
the  truth,  the  benevolence  of  the  thought,  ought  to  pro- 
tect it  from  this  imputation.  For,  though  we  should 
allow  that  one  of  the  great  masters  of  the  ancient  tragedy 
could  have  given  to  his  scene  a  sentiment  as  virtuous  and 
as  elevated  as  this  is,  and  at  the  same  time  as  apropriate, 
and  as  well  suited  to  the  particular  situation  of  the  person 


206  THE    FIRST    EPISTLE    TO    TIMOTHY. 

who  delivers  it ;  yet  whoever  is  conversant  in  these 
inquiries  will  acknowledge  that,  to  do  this  in  a  fictitious 
production,  is  beyond  the  reach  of  the  understandings 
which  have  been  employed  upon  any  fabrications  that 
have  come  down  to  us  under  Christian  names. 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE  SECOND  EPISTLE  TO  TIMOTHY. 

No.    I. 

It  was  the  uniform  tradition  of  the  primitive  church, 
that  St.  Paul  visited  Rome  twice,  and  twice  there  suffered 
imprisonment :  and  that  he  was  put  to  death  at  Rome  at 
the  conclusion  of  his  second  imprisonment.  This  opinion 
concerning  St.  Paul's  two  journeys  to  Rome  is  confirmed 
by  a  great  variety  of  hints  and  allusions  in  the  epistle 
before  us,  compared  with  what  fell  from  the  Apostle's 
pen  in  other  letters  purporting  to  have  been  written  from 
Rome.  That  our  present  epistle  was  written  whilst  St. 
Paul  was  di  prisoner  is  distinctly  intimated  by  the  eighth 
verse  of  the  first  chapter:  ''Be  not  thou  therefore 
ashamed  of  the  testimony  of  our  Lord,  nor  of  me  his 
prisoner."  And  whilst  he  was  a  prisoner  at  Rome,  by 
the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  verses  of  the  same  chap- 
ter :  "  The  Lord  gave  mercy  unto  the  house  of  Onesi- 
phorus  ;  for  he  oft  refreshed  me,  and  was  not  ashamed 
of  my  chain  :  but  when  he  was  in  Rome  he  sought  me  out 
very  diligently,  and  found  me."  Since  it  appears  from 
the  former  quotation  that  St.  Paul  wrote  this  epistle  in 
confinement,  it  will  hardly  admit  of  doubt  that  the  word 
chain,  in  the  latter  quotation,  refers  to  that  confinement ; 
the  chain  by  which  he  was  then  bound,  the  custody  in 
which  he  was  then  kept.  And  if  the  word  "  chain"  desig- 
nate the  author's  confinement  at  the  time  of  writing  the 


208  THE    SECOND    EPISTLE    TO    TIMOTHY. 

epistle,  the  next  words  determine  it  to  have  been  written 
from  Rome :  "  He  was  not  ashamed  of  my  chain  ;  but, 
when  he  was  in  Rome,  he  sought  me  out  very  diligently." 
Now,  that  it  was  not  written  during  the  Apostle's  first 
imprisonment  at  Rome,  or  during  the  same  imprisonment 
in  which  the  epistles  to  the  Ephesians,  the  Colossians,  the 
Philippians,  and  Philemon,  were  written,  may  be  gathered, 
with  considerable  evidence,  from  a  comparison  of  these 
several  epistles  with  the  present. 

I.  In  the  former  epistles  the  author  confidently  looked 
forward  to  his  liberation  from  confinement,  and  his  speedy 
departure  from  Rome.  He  tells  the  Philippians  (chap, 
ii.  24),  "  1  trust  in  the  Lord  that  I  also  myself  shall  come 
shortly."  Philemon  he  bids  to  prepare  for  him  a  lodg- 
ing :  "  For  I  trust,"  says  he,  "  that,  through  your  prayers, 
I  shall  be  given  unto  you  :"  ver.  22.  In  the  epistle  be- 
fore us  he  holds  a  language  extremely  different :  "  I  am 
now  ready  to  be  offered,  and  the  time  of  my  departure 
is  at  hand.  I  have  fought  a  good  fight,  I  have  finished 
my  course,  I  have  kept  the  faith  :  henceforth  there  is  laid 
up  for  me  a  crown  of  righteousness,  which  the  Lord, 
the  righteous  Judge,  shall  give  me  at  that  day  :"  chap, 
iv.  6—8. 

II.  When  the  former  epistles  were  written  from  Rome, 
Timothy  was  with  St.  Paul  ;  and  is  joined  with  him  in 
writing  to  the  Colossians,  the  Philippians,  and  to  Phile- 
mon.    The  present  epistle  implies  that  he  was  absent. 

III.  In  the  former  epistles  Demas  was  with  St.  Paul, 
at  Rome :  "  Luke,  the  beloved  physician,  and  Demas 
greets  you."  In  the  epistle  now  before  us,  "  Demas  hath 
forsaken  me,  having  loved  this  present  world,  and  is  gone 
to  Thessalonica." 

IV.  In  the  former  epistles,  Mark  was  with  St.  Paul, 
and  joins  in  saluting  the  Colossians.     In  the  present  epis- 


THE    SECOND    EPISTLE    TO    TIMOTHY.  209 

tie,  Timothy  is  ordered  to  bring  him  with  him, ''  for  he  is 
profitable  to  me  for  the  ministry  :"  chap.  iv.  11. 

The  cnse  of  Timothy  and  of  Mark  might  be  very  well 
accounted  for,  by  supposing  the  present  epistle  to  have 
been  written  before  the  others ;  so  that  Timothy,  who  is 
here  exhorted  "  to  come  shortly  unto  him,"  (chap.  iv.  9), 
might  have  arrived,  and  that  Mark,  "  whom  he  was  to 
bring  with  him,"  (chap.  iv.  11),  might  have  also  reached 
Rome  in  sufficient  time  to  have  been  with  St.  Paul  when 
the  four  epistles  were  written ;  but  then  such  a  supposi- 
tion is  inconsistent  with  what  is  said  of  Demas,  by  which 
the  posteriority  of  this  to  the  other  epistles  is  strongly  in- 
dicated :  for,  in  the  other  epistles,  Demas  was  with  St. 
Paul,  in  the  present  he  hath  "  forsaken  him,  and  is  gone 
to  Thessalonica."  The  opposition  also  of  sentiment,  with 
respect  to  the  event  of  the  persecution,  is  hardly  recon- 
cilable to  the  same  imprisonment. 

The  tv/o  following  considerations  which  were  first  sug- 
gested upon  this  question  by  Ludovicus  Capellus,  are  still 
more  conclusive. 

1.  In  the  twentieth  verse  of  the  fourth  chapter  St.  Paul 
informs  Timothy  "  that  Erastus  abode  at  Corinth,"  Eqaa. 
Tog  e^nivev  ev  KogiiOco.  The  form  of  expression  implies 
that  Erastus  had  staid  behind  at  Corinth  when  St.  Paul 
left  it.  But  this  could  not  be  meant  of  any  journey  from 
Corinth  which  St.  Paul  took  prior  to  his  first  imprison- 
ment at  Rome  ;  for  when  Paul  departed  from  Corinth,  as 
related  in  the  twentieth  chapter  of  the  Acts,  Timothy  was 
with  him  :  and  this  was  the  last  time  the  apostle  left  Cor- 
inth before  his  coming  to  Rome ;  because  he  left  it  to 
proceed  on  his  way  to  Jerusalem  ;  soon  after  his  arrival 
at  which  place  he  was  taken  into  custody,  and  continued 
in  that  custody  till  he  was  carried  to  Caesar's  tribunal. 
There  could  be  no  need  therefore  to  inform  Timothy  that 


210  THE    SECOND    EPISTLE    TO    TIMOTHY. 

"  Erastus  staid  behind  at  Corinth"  upon  this  occasion,  be- 
cause if  the  fact  was  so,  it  must  have  been  known  to  Tim- 
othy, who  was  present,  as  well  as  to  St.  Paul. 

2.  In  the  same  verse  our  epistle  also  states  the  following 
article  :  "  Trophimus  have  I  left  at  Miletum  sick."  When 
St.  Paul  passed  through  Miletum  on  his  way  to  Jerusa- 
lem, as  related  Acts,  xx.,  Trophimus  was  not  left  behind, 
but  accompanied  him  to  that  city.  He  was  indeed  the 
occasion  of  the  uproar  at  Jerusalem,  in  consequence  of 
which  St.  Paul  was  apprehended ;  for,  "  they  had  seen," 
says  the  historian,  "  before  with  him  in  the  city,  Trophi- 
mus, an  Ephesian,  whom  they  supposed  that  Paul  had 
brought  into  the  temple."  This  was  evidently  the  last 
time  of  Paul's  being  at  Miletus  before  his  first  imprison- 
ment ;  for,  as  hath  been  said,  after  his  apprehension  at 
Jerusalem,  he  remained  in  custody  till  he  was  sent  to 
Rome. 

In  these  two  articles  we  have  a  journey  referred  to 
which  must  have  taken  place  subsequent  to  the  conclusion 
of  St.  Luke's  history,  and,  of  course,  after  St.  Paul's  lib- 
eration from  his  first  imprisonment.  The  epistle  there- 
fore, w^hich  contains  this  reference,  since  it  appears,  from 
other  parts  of  it,  to  have  been  written  while  St.  Paul  was 
a  prisoner  at  Rome,  proves  that  he  had  returned  to  that 
city  again,  and  undergone  there  a  second  imprisonment. 

I  do  not  produce  these  particulars  for  the  sake  of  the 
support  which  they  lend  to  the  testimony  of  the  fathers 
concerning  St.  Paul's  second  imprisonment,  but  to  remark 
their  consistency  and  agreement  with  one  another.  They 
are  all  resolvable  into  one  supposition:  and,  although 
the  supposition  itself  be  in  some  sort  only  negative,  viz. 
that  the  epistle  was  not  written  during  St.  Paul's  first 
residence  at  Rome,  but  in  some  future  imprisonment  in 
that  city ;  yet  is  the  consistency  not  less  worthy  of  ob- 


THE    SECOND    EPISTLE    TO    TIMOTHY.  211 

servation :  for  the  epistle  touches  upon  names  and  cir- 
cumstances connected  with  the  date  and  with  the  history 
of  the  first  imprisonment,  and  mentioned  in  letters  writ- 
ten during  that  imprisonment,  and  so  touches  upon  them 
as  to  leave  what  is  said  of  one  consistent  with  what  is 
said  of  others,  and  consistent  also  with  what  is  said  of 
them  in  different  epistles.  Had  one  of  these  circum- 
stances been  so  described  as  to  have  fixed  the  date  of  the 
epistle  to  the  first  imprisonment,  it  would  have  involved 
the  rest  in  contradiction.  And  when  tha  number  and 
particularity  of  the  articles  which  have  been  brought  to- 
gether under  this  head  are  considered  ;  and  when  it  is 
considered,  also,  that  the  comparisons  we  have  formed 
amongst  them  were  in  all  probability  neither  provided 
for,  nor  thought  of  by  the  writer  of  the  epistle,  it  will  be 
deemed  something  very  like  the  effect  of  truth,  that  no 
invincible  repugnancy  is  perceived  between  them. 


No.   II. 

In  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  in  the  sixteenth  chapter, 
and  at  the  first  verse,  we  are  told  that  Paul  "  came  to 
Derbe  and  Lystra,  and,  behold,  a  certain  disciple  was 
there,  named  Timotheus,  the  son  of  a  certain  woman 
which  was  a  Jewess,  and  believed  ;  but  his  father  was  a 
Greek."  In  the  epistle  before  us,  in  the  first  chapter,  and 
at  the  fourth  verse,  St.  Paul  writes  to  Timothy,  thus  : 
"Greatly  desiring  to  see  thee,  being  mindful  of  thy  tears, 
that  I  may  be  filled  with  joy,  when  I  call  to  remembrance 
the  unfeigned  faith  that  is  in  thee,  which  dwelt  first  in 
thy  grandmother  Lois,  and  thy  mother  Eunice  ;  and  lam 
persuaded  that  in  thee  also."  Here  we  have  a  fair  un- 
forced example  of  coincidence.     In  the  history,  Timothy 


212  THE    SECOND    EPISTLE    TO    TIMOTHY. 

was  the  "  son  of  a  Jewess  that  believed  ;"  in  the  epistle, 
St.  Paul  applauds,  "the  faith  which  dwelt  in  his  mother 
Eunice."  In  the  history  it  is  said  of  the  mother,  "  that 
she  was  a  Jewess,  and  believed  ;"  of  the  father,  "  that  he 
was  a  Greek."  Now,  when  it  is  said  of  the  mother  alone 
"  that  she  believed,"  the  father  being,  nevertheless,  men- 
tioned in  the  same  sentence,  we  are  led  to  suppose  of  the 
father,  that  he  did  not  believe,  i.  e.  either  that  he  was 
dead,  or  that  he  remained  unconverted.  Agreeably  here- 
unto, whilst  praise  is  bestowed  in  the  epistle,  upon  one 
parent,  and  upon  her  sincerity  in  the  faith,  no  notice  is 
taken  of  the  other.  The  mention  of  the  grandmother  is 
the  addition  of  a  circumstance  not  found  in  the  history ; 
but  it  is  a  circumstance  which,  as  well  as  the  names  of 
the  parties,  might  naturally  be  expected  to  be  known  to 
the  apostle,  though  overlooked  by  his  historian. 


No.  III. 

Chop.  iii.  15.  *'  And  that  from  a  child  thou  hast  known 
the  Holy  Scriptures,  which  are  able  to  make  thee  wise 
unto  salvation." 

This  verse  discloses  a  circumstance  which  agrees  ex- 
actly with  what  is  intimated  in  the  quotation  from  the 
Acts,  adduced  in  the  last  number.  In  that  quotation  it  is 
recorded  of  Timothy's  mother,  "  that  she  was  a  Jewess.'* 
This  description  is  virtually,  though  I  am  satisfied,  unde- 
signedly, recognized  in  the  epistle,  when  Timothy  is  re- 
minded in  it,  "  that  from  a  child  he  had  known  the  Holy 
Scriptures.''  "  The  Holy  Scriptures"  undoubtedly  meant 
the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  Testament.  The  expression 
bears  that  sense  in  every  place  in  which  it  occurs.  Those 
of  the  New  had  not  yet  acquired  the  name ;  not  to  men- 


THE    SECOND    EPISTLE    TO    TIMOTHY.  213 

tion  that,  in  Timothy's  childhood,  probably  none  of  them 
existed.  In  what  manner,  then,  could  Timothy  have 
"  known  from  a  child"  the  Jewish  Scriptures,  had  he  not 
been  born,  on  one  side  or  on  both,  of  Jewish  parentage  ? 
Perhaps  he  was  not  less  likely  to  be  carefully  instructed 
in  them,  for  that  his  mother  alone  professed  that  religion. 


No.  IV. 

Chap.  ii.  22.  "  Flee  also  youthful  lusts  :  but  follow 
righteousness,  faith,  charity,  peace,  with  them  than  call 
on  the  Lord  out  of  a  pure  heart." 

"  Flee  also  youthful  lusts."  The  suitableness  of  this 
precept  to  the  age  of  the  person  to  whom  it  is  addressed, 
is  gathered  from  1  Tim.  chap.  iv.  12  :  Let  no  man  de- 
spise thy  youth."  Nor  do  I  deem  the  less  of  this  coinci- 
dence, because  the  propriety  resides  in  a  single  epithet ; 
or  because  this  one  precept  is  joined  with,  and  followed 
by  a  train  of  others,  not  more  applicable  to  Timothy  than 
to  any  ordinary  convert.  It  is  in  these  transient  and 
cursory  allusions  that  the  argument  is  best  founded. 
When  a  writer  dwells  and  rests  upon  a  point  in  which 
some  coincidence  is  discerned,  it  may  be  doubted  whether 
he  himself  had  not  fabricated  the  conformity,  and  was 
endeavoring  to  display  and  set  it  off.  But  when  the  ref- 
erence is  contained  in  a  single  word,  unobserved,  per- 
haps, by  most  readers,  the  writer  passing  on  to  other 
subjects,  as  unconscious  that  he  had  hit  upon  a  corres- 
pondency, or  unsolicitous  whether  it  were  remarked  or 
not,  we  may  be  pretty  well  assured  that  no  fraud  was 
exercised,  no  imposition  intended. 


214  THE    SECOND    EPISTLE    TO    TIMOTHY. 


No  V. 

Chap.  iii.  10,  11.  "But  thou  hast  fully  known  my 
doctrine,  manner  of  life,  purpose,  faith,  long-suffering, 
charity,  patience,  persecutions,  afflictions,  which  came 
unto  me  at  Antioch,  at  Iconium,  at  Lystra ;  what  per- 
secutions I  endured  ;  but  out  of  them  all  the  Lord  de- 
livered me." 

The  Antioch  here  mentioned  was  not  Antioch  the  cap- 
ital of  Syria,  where  Paul  and  Barnabas  resided  "  a  long 
time ;"  but  Antioch  in  Pisidia,  to  which  place  Paul  and 
Barnabas  came  in  their  first  apostolic  progress,  and  where 
Paul  delivered  a  memorable  discourse,  which  is  preserved 
in  the  thirteenth  chapter  of  the  Acts.  At  this  Antioch 
the  history  relates  that  the  "  Jews  stirred  up  the  devout 
and  honorable  women,  and  the  chief  men  of  the  city, 
and  raised  persecution  against  Paul  and  Barnabas,  and 
expelled  them  out  of  their  coasts.  But  they  shook  off  the 
dust  of  their  feet  against  them,  and  came  into  Iconium 
.  .  .  And  it  came  to  pass  in  Iconium,  that  they  went 
both  together  into  the  synagogue  of  the  Jews,  and  so 
spake  that  a  great  multitude  both  of  the  Jews  and  also 
of  the  Greeks  believed ;  but  the  unbelieving  Jews  stirred 
up  the  Gentiles,  and  made  their  minds  evil-affected  against 
the  brethren.  Long  time,  therefore,  abode  they  speaking 
boldly  in  the  Lord,  which  gave  testimony  unto  the  word 
of  his  grace,  and  granted  signs  and  wonders  to  be  done 
by  their  hands.  But  the  multitude  of  the  city  was  divi- 
ded;  and  part  held  with  the  Jews,  and  pait  with  the 
apostles.  And  when  there  was  an  assault  made,  both  of 
the  Gentiles  and  also  of  the  Jews,  with  their  rulers,  to 
use  them  despitefuUy ,  and  to  stone  them,  they  were  aware 
of  it,  and  fled  into  Lystra  and  Derbe,  cities  of  Lycaonia, 


THE    SECOND    EPISTLE    TO    TIMOTHY.  215 

and  unto  the  region  that  lieth  round  about,  and  there  they 
preached  the  Gospel  ....  And  there  came  thither 
certain  Jews  from  Antioch  and  Iconium,  who  persuaded 
the  people,  and,  having  stoned  Paul,  drew  him  out  of  the 
city,  supposing  he  had  been  dead.  Howbeit,  as  the  dis- 
ciples stood  roun^J  about  him,  he  rose  up  and  came  into 
the  city ;  and  the  next  day  he  departed  with  Barnabas  to 
Derbe :  and  when  they  had  preached  the  Gospel  to  that 
city,  and  had  taught  many,  they  returned  again  to  Lystra, 
and  to  Iconium,  and  to  Antioch."  This  account  com- 
prises the  period  to  whiph  the  allusion  in  the  epistle  is  to 
be  referred.  We  have  so  far,  therefore,  a  conformity  be- 
tween the  history  and  the  epistle,  that  St.  Paul  is  asserted 
in  the  history  to  have  suffered  persecution  in  the  three 
cities,  his  persecutions  at  which  are  appealed  to  in  the 
epistle ;  and  not  only  so,  but  to  have  suffered  these  per- 
secutions, both  in  immediate  succession,  and  in  the  order 
in  which  the  cities  are  mentioned  in  the  epistle.  The 
conformity  also  extends  to  another  circumstance.  In  the 
apostolic  history,  Lystra  and  Derbe  are  commonly  men- 
tioned together  :  in  the  quotation  from  the  epistle,  Lystra 
is  mentioned,  and  not  Derbe.  And  the  distinction  will 
appear  on  this  occasion  to  be  accurate  ;  for  St.  Paul  is 
here  enumerating  his  persecutions :  and,  although  he  un- 
derwent grievous  persecutions  in  each  of  the  three  cities 
through  which  he  passed  to  Derbe,  at  Derbe  itself  he  met 
with  none  :  "  The  next  day  he  departed,"  says  the  histo- 
rian, "  to  Derbe ;  and,  when  they  had  preached  the  Gos- 
pel to  that  city,  and  had  taught  many,  they  returned  again 
to  Lystra."  The  epistle,  therefore,  in  the  names  of  the 
cities,  in  the  order  in  which  they  are  enumerated,  and  in 
the  place  at  which  the  enumeration  stops,  corresponds 
exactly  with  the  history. 

But  a  second  question  remains,  namely,  how  these  per- 


216  THE    SECOND    EPISTLE    TO    TIMOTHY. 

secutions  were  "  known"  to  Timothy,  or  why  the  apostle 
should  recall  these  in  particular  to  his  remembrance, 
rather  than  many  other  persecutions  with  which  his  min- 
istry had  been  attended.  When  some  time,  probably 
three  years  afterwards  (vide  Pearson's  Annales  Paulinas,) 
St.  Paul  made  a  second  journey  througk  the  same  coun- 
try, "  in  order  to  go  again  and  visit  the  brethren  in  every 
city  where  he  had  preached  the  word  of  the  Lord,"  we 
read,  Acts,  chap.  xvi.  1,  that  "  when  he  came  to  Derbe 
and  Lystra,  behold,  a  certain  disciple  was  there,  named 
Timotheus."  One  or  other,  therflfcre,  of  these  cities,  was 
the  place  of  Timothy's  abode.  We  read,  moreover,  that 
he  was  well  reported  of  by  the  brethren  that  were  at 
Lystra  and  Iconium  ;  so  that  he  must  have  been  well  ac- 
quainted with  these  places.  Also,  again,  when  Paul  came 
to  Derbe  and  Lystra,  Timothy  was  already  a  disciple  ; 
"Behold  a  certain  disciple  was  there  named  Timotheus." 
He  must,  therefore,  have  been  converted  before.  But 
since  it  is  expressly  stated  in  the  epistle  that  Timothy  was 
converted  by  St.  Paul  himself,  that  he  was  "  his  own  son  in 
the  faith  ;"  it  follows  that  he  must  have  been  converted 
by  him  upon  his  former  journey  into  those  parts ;  which 
was  the  very  time  when  the  apostle  underwent  the  perse- 
cutions referred  to  in  the  epistle.  Upon  the  whole,  then, 
persecutions  at  the  several  cities  named  in  the  epistle  are 
expressly  recorded  in  the  Acts ;  and  Timothy's  knowl- 
edge of  this  part  of  St.  Paul's  history,  which  knowledge 
is  appealed  to  in  the  epistle,  is  fairly  deduced  from  the 
place  of  his  abode,  and  the  time  of  his  conversion.  It 
may  farther  be  observed  that  it  is  probable  from  this  ac- 
count that  St.  Paul  was  in  the  midst  of  those  persecutions 
when  Timothy  became  known  to  him.  No  wonder,  then, 
that  the  apostle,  though  in  a  letter  writen  long  after-i 


THE    SECOND    EPISTLE    TO    TIMOTHY.  217 

wards,  should  remind  his  favorite  convert  of  those  scenes 
of  affliction  and  distress  under  which  they  first  met. 

Although  this  coincidence,  as  to  the  names  of  the  cities, 
be  more  specific  and  direct  than  many  which  we  have 
pointed  out ;  yet  I  apprehend  there  is  no  just  reason  for 
thinking  it  to  be  artificial ;  for  had  the  writer  of  the  epis- 
tle sought  a  coincidence  with  the  history  upon  this  head, 
and  searched  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  for  the  purpose,  I 
conceive  he  would  have  sent  us  at  once  to  Philippi  and 
Thessalonica,  where  Paul  suffered  persecution,  and  where, 
from  what  is  stated,  it  may  easily  be  gathered  that  Timo- 
thy accompanied  him,  rather  than  have  appealed  to  per- 
secutions as  known  to  Timothy,  in  the  account  of  which 
persecutions  Timothy's  presence  is  not  mentioned  ;  it  not 
being  till  after  one  entire  chapter,  and  in  the  history  of  a 
journey  three  years  futur3  to  this,  that  Timothy's  name 
occurs  in  the  Acts  Df  *>?  ^  postles  for  the  first  time. 

10 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE  EPISTLE  TO  TITUS. 
No.     I. 

A  VERY  characteristic  circumstance  in  this  epistle  is  the 
quotation  from  Epimenides,  chap.  i.  12  ;  "  One  of  them- 
selves, even  a  prophet  of  their  own,  said.  The  Cretans  are 
always  liars,  evil  beasts,  slow  bellies." 

TSLprjres  ast  ipivarai,  kuku  Bnpia,  yaaTvpss  apyai. 

I  call  this  quotation  characteristic,  because  no  writer 
in  the  New  Testament,  except  St.  Paul,  appealed  to 
heathen  testimony,  and  because  St.  Paul  repeatedly  did 
so.  In  his  celebrated  speech  at  Athens,  preserved  in  the 
seventeenth  chapter  of  the  Acts,  he  tells  his  audience  that 
"  in  God  we  live,  and  move,  and  have  our  being ;  as  cer- 
tain also  of  your  own  poets  have  said,  For  we  are  also 
his  offspring." 

ra  yap  kui  ysvog  etr^EV. 

The  reader  will  perceive  much  similarity  of  manner  in 
these  two  passages.  The  reference  in  the  speech  is  to  a 
heathen  poet  ;  it  is  the  same  in  the  epistle.  In  the  speech, 
the  apostle  urges  his  hearers  with  the  authority  of  a  poet 
of  their  own  ;  in  the  epistle,  he  avails  himself  of  the  same 
advantage.  Yet  there  is  a  variation,  which  shows  that 
the  hint  of  inserting  a  quotation  in  the  epistle  w^as  not, 
as  it  may  be  expected,  borrowed  from  seeing  the  like 
practice  attributed  to  St.  Paul  in  the  history  ;  and  it  is 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    TITUS.  219 

this,  that  in  the  epistle  the  author  cited  is  called  Viprophet, 
**  one  of  themselves,  even  a  prophet  of  their  ov^^n." 
Whatever  might  be  the  reason  for  calling  Epimenides  a 
prophet ;  whether  the  names  of  poet  and  prophet  v^ere 
occasionally  convertible  ;  whether  Epimenides  in  partic- 
ular had  obtained  that  title,  as  Grotius  seems  to  have 
proved  ;  or  whether  the  appellation  was  given  to  him,  in 
this  instance,  as  having  delivered  a  description  of  the 
Cretan  character  which  the  future  state  of  morals  among 
them  verified  :  whatever  was  the  reason,  (and  any  of  these 
reasons  will  account  for  the  variation,  supposing  St.  Paul 
to  have  been  the  author,)  one  point  is  plain,  namely,  if  the 
epistle  had  been  forged,  and  the  author  had  inserted  a 
quotation  in  it  merely  from  having  seen  an  example  of 
the  same  kind  in  a  speech  ascribed  to  St.  Paul,  he  would 
so  far  have  imitated  his  original  as  to  have  introduced  his 
quotation  in  the  same  manner ;  that  is,  he  would  have 
given  to  Epimenides  the  title  which  he  saw  there  given 
to  Aratus.  The  other  side  of  the  alternative  is,  that  the 
history  took  the  hint  from  the  epistle.  But  that  the  au- 
thor of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  had  not  the  epistle  to 
Titus  before  him,  at  least  that  he  did  not  use  it  as  one  of 
the  documents  or  materials  of  his  narrative,  is  rendered 
nearly  certain  by  the  observation  that  the  name  of  Titus 
does  not  once  occur  in  his  book. 

It  is  well  known,  and  was  remarked  by  St.  Jerome, 
that  the  apothegm  in  the  fifteenth  chapter  of  the  Corin- 
thians, "Evil  communications  corrupt  good  manners," 
is  an  Iambic  of  Menander's : 

^deipbffiv  T]dri  x?^"^^  hjiiXiai  KUKai. 

Here  we  have  another  unafTected  instance  of  the  same 
turn  and  habit  of  composition.  Probably  there  are 
some  hitherto  unnoticed  :  and   more  which  the  loss  of 


220  THE    EPISTLE    TO    TITUS. 

the  original  authors  renders  impossible  to  be  now  ascer- 
tained. 


No.   II. 

There  exists  a  visible  affinity  between  the  Epistle  to  Ti- 
tus, and  the  First  Epistle  to  Timothy.  Both  letters  were 
addressed  to  persons  left  by  the  writer  to  preside  in  their 
respective  churches  during  his  absence.  Both  letters 
are  principally  occupied  in  describing  the  qualifications 
to  be  sought  for  in  those  whom  they  should  appoint  to 
offices  in  the  church;  and  the  ingredients  of  this  descrip- 
tion are  in  both  letters  nearly  the  same.  Timothy  and 
Titus  are  likewise  cautioned  against  the  same  prevailing 
corruptions,  and,  in  particular,  against  the  same  misdirec- 
tion of  their  cares  and  studies.  This  affinity  obtains,  not 
only  in  the  subject  of  the  letters,  which,  from  the  simi- 
larity of  situation  in  the  persons  to  whom  they  were  ad- 
dressed, might  be  expected  to  be  somewhat  alike,  but 
extends,  in  a  great  variety  of  instances,  to  the  phrases 
and  expressions.  The  writer  accosts  his  two  friends 
with  the  same  salutation,  and  passes  on  to  the  business  of 
his  letter  by  the  same  transition. 

*'Unto  Timothy,  my  own  son  in  the  faith;  Grace, 
mercy,  and  peace,  from  God  our  Father,  and  Jesus  Christ 
our  Lord.  As  I  besought  thee  to  abide  still  at  Ephesus^ 
when  I  went  into  Macedonia,^'  &c.,  1  Tim.  chap.  i.  2,  3. 

"  To  Titus,  mine  own  son  after  the  common  faith : 
Grace,  mercy,  and  peace,  from  God  the  Father,  and  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  our  Saviour.  For  this  cause  left  I 
thee  in  Crete."     Titus,  chap.  i.  4,  5. 

If  Timothy  was  not  to"^ii;e  heed  to  fables  and  endless 
genealogies^  which  minister  questions,"  1  Tim.  chap.  i.  4 ; 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    TITUS.  221 

Titus  also  was  to  "  avoid  foolish  questions^  and  genealo- 
gies, and  contentions,  chap.  iii.  9  ;  and  was  to  "  rebuke 
them  sharply,  not  giving  heed  to  Jewish  fables,'^  chap.  i. 
14.  If  Timothy  was  to  be  a  pattern  {rvnog)^  I.  Tim.  chap, 
iv.  12 ;  so  was  Titus,  chap.  ii.  7.  If  Timothy  was  to 
"  let  no  man  despise  his  youth,"  1  Tim.  chap.  iv.  12 ;  Ti- 
tus also  was  to  "let  no  man  despise  him,  chap.  ii.  15. 
This  verbal  consent  is  also  observable  in  some  very  pe- 
culiar expressions,  which  have  no  relation  to  the  particu- 
lar character  of  Timothy  or  Titus. 

The  phrase,  "  it  is  a  faithful  saying,"  {maTog  6  loyog), 
made  use  of  to  preface  some  sentence  upon  which  the 
writer  lays  a  more  than  ordinary  stress,  occurs  three 
times  in  the  First  Epistle  to  Timothy,  once  in  the  Second, 
snd  once  in  the  epistle  before  us,  and  in  no  other  part 
of  St.  Paul's  writings ;  and  it  is  remarkable  that  these 
three  epistles  were  probably  all  written  towards  the  con- 
clusion of  his  life  ;  and  that  they  are  the  only  epistles 
which  were  written  after  his  first  imprisonment  at  Rome. 

The  same  observation  belongs  to  another  singularity 
of  expression,  and  that  is  in  the  epithet  ''  sound'''  {iyiaivfav)^ 
as  applied  to  words  or  doctrine.  It  is  thus  used  twice  in 
the  First  Epistle  to  Timothy,  twice  in  the  Second,  and 
thr^e  times  in  the  Epistle  to  Titus,  besides  two  cognate 
expressions,  Tuyiuivoi'zag  t?/  niaTet  and  ^oyop  -vytT] ;  and  it  is 
found,  in  the  same  sense,  in  no  other  part  of  the  New 
Testament. 

The  phrase,  "  God  our  Saviour,"  stands  in  nearly  the 
same  predicament.  It  is  repeated  three  times  in  the  First 
Epistle  to  Timothy,  as  many  in  the  Epistle  to  Titus,  and 
in  no  other  book  of  the  New  Testament  occurs  at  all, 
except  once  in  the  Epistle  of  Jude. 

Similar  terms,  intermixed  indeed  with  others,  are  em- 
ployed in  the  two  epistles,  in  enumerating  the  qualifi- 


222  THE    EPISTLE    TO    TITUS. 

cations  required  in  those  who  should  be  advanced  to  sta- 
tions of  authority  in  the  church. 

"  A  bishop  must  be  blarneless,  the  husband  of  one  loife, 
vigilant,  sober,  of  good  behavior,  given  to  hospitality,  apt 
to  teach,  not  given  to  loine,  no  stinker,  not  greedy  of  filthy 
lucre;  but  patient,  not  a  brawler,  not  covetous;  one  that 
ruleth  well  his  own  house,  having  his  children  in  sub- 
jection with  all  gravity."  *     1  Tim.  chap.  iii.  2 — 4. 

"If  any  be  blameless,  the  husband  of  one  wife,  having 
faithful  children,  not  accused  of  riot,  or  unruly.  For  a 
bishop  must  be  blameless,  as  the  steward  of  God  ;  not 
self-willed,  not  soon  angry,  not  given  to  wiiie,  no  striker, 
not  given  to  filthy  lucre ;  but  a  lover  of  hospitality,  a  lover 
of  good  men,  sober,  just,  holy,  temperate."  f  Titus,  chap. 
i.  6—8. 

The  most  natural  account  which  can  be  given  of  these 
resemblances  is  to  suppose  that  the  two  epistles  were 
written  nearly  at  the  same  time,  and  w^hilst  the  same 
ideas  and  phrases  dwelt  in  the  writer's  mind.  Let  us 
inquire,  therefore,  whether  the  notes  of  time,  extant  in 
the  two  epistles,  in  any  manner  favor  this  supposition. 

We  have  seen  that  it  was  necessary  to  refer  the  First 
Epistle  to  Timothy  to  a  date  subsequent  to  St.  Paul's 
first  imprisonment  at  Rome,  because  there  was  no  journey 
into  Macedonia  prior  to  that  event  which  accorded  with 
the  circumstance  of  leaving  "  Timothy  behind  at  Ephe- 
sus."     The  journey  of  St.  Paul  from  Crete,  alluded  to  in 

*  '*  Aet  »v  Tov  eTTKTKOiTov  avET!i\r)TTTOv  civai,  liiaiyvvaiKOi  avSpa,  vrfpaKiov,  cwtppova, 
KOffjJiiov  0(Ao^e>'Oj',  iiSuKTiKOv,  fir]  napoivov,  jxtj  -r'XrjKTrjv^  firj  aia^poKcpSr]'  dXX  ctruiKri, 
a[Jiaj(^ov,  a(pi\apyvpov'  ru  iSiy  oikv  ^caXwj  Trpoi'arafievov,  reKva  e^ovra  ev  vnoTayriiura 
iraa-ris  (rzjivoTr]TOiV 

■j"  "  Et  Ttj  tariv  aveyKXriros,  ytiag  yvvaiKosavrip^  tekvu  fx^wvTTiiTTa,  [iri  tv  Kurriyopta 
aawTias^  ri  avvTroTaKra.  Aei  yap  tov  eniaKoirov  aveyK\r}Tov  eiva-^  wj  Qtov  oikovo^ov, 
jirt  avda6n,  /<'?  opyi\op,  [tri  napoivov,  [it]  v'XriKTriv,  fir]  aiirxpoKepSri'  aWa  (piXo^svov,  fiXa' 
yadov,  aoxppova,  SiKdio'  y  buiov,  eyKoarr)." 


THE    EI'ISTLE    TO    TITUS.  223 

the  epistle  before  us,  and  in  which  Titus  "  was  left  in 
Crete  to  set  in  order  the  things  that  were  wanting,"  must, 
in  Hke  manner,  be  carried  to  the  period  which  intervened 
between  his  first  and  second  imprisonment.  For  the  his- 
tory, which  reaches,  we  know,  to  the  time  of  St.  Paul's 
first  imprisonment,  contains  no  account  of  his  going  to 
Crete,  except  upon  his  voyage  as  a  prisoner  to  Rome; 
and  that  this  could  not  be  the  occasion  referred  to  in  our 
epistle  is  evident  from  hence,  that  when  St.  Paul  wrote 
this  epistle,  he  appears  to  have  been  at  liberty ;  where- 
as, after  that  voyage,  he  continued  for  two  years  at  least 
in  confinement.  Again,  it  is  agreed  that  St.  Paul  wrote 
his  First  Epistle  to  Timothy  from  Macedonia :  *'  As  I  be- 
sought thee  to  abide  still  at  Ephesus,  when  I  went  (or 
can>e)  into  Macedonia."  And  that  he  was  in  these  parts 
i.  e.  in  this  peninsula,  when  he  wrote  the  Epistle  to  Titus, 
is  rendered  probable  by  his  directing  Titus  to  come  to 
him  to  Nicopolis :  "  When  I  shall  send  Artemas  unto  thee, 
or  Tychicus,  be  diligent  (make  haste)  to  come  unto  me 
to  Nicopolis :  for  I  have  determined  there  to  winter." 
The  most  noted  city  of  that  name  was  in  Epirus,  near  to 
Actium.  And  I  think  the  form  of  speaking,  as  well  as 
the  nature  of  the  case,  renders  it  probable  that  the  writer 
was  at  Nicopolis,  or  in  the  neighborhood  thereof,  when 
he  dictated  this  direction  to  Titus. 

Upon  the  whole,  if  we  may  be  allowed  to  suppose  that 
St.  Paul,  after  his  liberation  at  Rome,  sailed  into  Asia, 
taking  Crete  in  his  way ;  that  from  Asia  and  from  Ephe- 
sus, the  capital  of  that  country,  he  proceeded  into  Mace- 
donia, and  crossing  the  peninsula  in  his  progress,  came 
into  the  neighborhood  of  Nicopolis;  we  have  a  route 
which  falls  in  with  every  thing.  It  executes  the  intention 
expressed  by  the  apostle  of  visiting  Colosse  and  Philippi 
as  soon  as  he  should  be  set  at  liberty  at  Rome.     It  allows 


224  THE    EPISTLE    TO    TITUS. 

him  to  leave  "  Titus  at  Crete,"  and  "  Timothy  at  Ephesus, 
as  he  went  into  Macedonia  ;"  and  to  write  to  both  not 
long  after  from  the  peninsula  of  Greece,  and  probably  the 
neighborhood  of  Nicopolis :  thus  bringing  together  the 
dates  of  these  two  letters,  and  thereby  accounting  for 
that  affinity  between  them;  both  in  subject  and  language, 
which  our  remarks  have  pointed  out.  I  confess  that  the 
journey  which  we  have  thus  traced  out  for  St.  Paul  is  in 
a  great  measure  hypothetic :  but  it  should  be  observed 
that  it  is  a  species  of  consistency  which  seldom  belongs 
to  falsehood,  to  admit  of  an  hypothesis  which  includes  a 
great  number  of  independent  circumstances  without  con- 
tradiction. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

THE  EPISTLE  TO   PHILEMON. 

No.    I. 

The  singular  correspondency  between  this  epistle  and 
that  to  the  Colossians  has  been  remarked  already.  An 
assertion  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Colossians,  viz,  that  "  Ones- 
imus  was  one  of  them,"  is  verified,  not  by  any  mention 
of  Colosse,  any  the  most  distant  intimation  concerning 
the  place  of  Philemon's  abode,  but  singly  by  stating  Ones- 
imus  to  be  Philemon's  servant,  and  by  joining  in  the  sal- 
utation Philemon  with  Archippus ;  for  this  Archippus, 
when  we  go  back  to  the  Epistle  to  the  Colossians,  ap- 
pears to  have  been  an  inhabitant  of  that  city,  and,  as  it 
should  seem,  to  have  held  an  office  of  authority  in  that 
church.  The  case  stands  thus.  Take  the  Epistle  to  the 
Colossians  alone,  and  no  circumstance  is  discoverable 
which  makes  out  the  assertion  that  Onesimus  was  "one 
of  them."  Take  the  Epistle  to  Philemon  alone,  and  noth- 
ing at  all  appears  concerning  the  place  to  which  Philemon 
or  his  servant  Onesimus  belonged.  For  any  thing  that 
is  said  in  the  epistle,  Philemon  might  have  been  a  Thes- 
salonian,  a  Philippian,  or  an  Ephesian,  as  well  as  a  Colos- 
sian.  Put  the  two  epistles  together,  and  the  matter  is 
clear.  The  reader  perceives  a  junction  of  circumstances, 
which  ascertains  the  conclusion  at  once.  Now,  all  that 
is  necessary  to  be  added  in  this  place  is,  that  this  corres- 
pondency evinces  the  genuineness  of  one  epistle,  as  well 
V>  10* 


226  THE    EPISTLE    TO    PHILEMON. 

as  of  the  other.  It  is  like  comparing  the  two  parts  of  a 
cloven  tally.  Coincidence  proves  the  authenticity  of 
both. 


No.  II. 

And  this  coincidence  is  perfect :  not  only  in  the  main 
article  of  showing,  by  implication,  Onesimus  to  be  a  Co- 
lossian,  but  in  many  dependent  circumstances. 

1.  "I  beseech  thee  for  my  son  Onesimus,  whom  I  have 
sent  again/'  ver.  10 — 12.  It  appears  from  the  Epistle  to 
the  Colossians,  that,  in  truth,  Onesimus  was  sent  at  that 
time  to  Colosse :  "  All  my  state  shall  Tychicus  declare, 
whom  I  have  sent  unto  you  for  the  same  purpose,  with 
Onesimus,  a  faithful  and  beloved  brother."  Colos.  chap, 
iv.  7—9. 

2.  "  I  beseech  thee  for  my  son  Onesimus,  whom  I  have 
begotten  in  my  bonds'^  ver.  10.  It  appears  from  the  pre- 
ceding quotation  that  Onesimus  was  with  St.  Paul  when 
he  wrote  the  Epistle  to  the  Colossians  ;  and  that  he  wrote 
that  epistle  in  imprisonment  is  evident  from  his  decla- 
ration in  the  fourth  chapter  and  third  verse :  "  Praying 
also  for  us,  that  God  would  open  unto  us  a  door  of  utter- 
ance, to  speak  the  mystery  of  Christ,  for  which  I  am  also 
in  bondsy 

3.  St.  Paul  bids  Philemon  prepare  for  him  a  lodging : 
"  For  I  trust,"  says  he,  ''  that  through  your  prayers  I  shall 
be  given  unto  you."  This  agrees  with  the  expectation  of 
speedy  deliverance,  which  he  expressed  in  another  epis- 
tle written  during  the  same  imprisonment :  "  Him"  (Tim- 
othy) "  I  hope  to  send  presently,  so  soon  as  I  shall  see 
how  it  will  go  with  me :  but  I  trust  in  the  Lord  that  I 
also  myself  shall  come  shortly."     Phil.  chap.  ii.  23,  24. 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    PHILEMON.  227 

4.  As  the  letter  to  Philemon,  and  that  to  the  Colossians, 
were  written  at  the  same  time,  and  sent  by  the  same  mes- 
senger, the  one  to  a  particular  inhabitant,  the  other  to  the 
church  of  Colosse,  it  may  be  expected  that  the  same  or 
nearly  the  same  persons  would  be  about  St.  Paul,  and 
join  with  him,  as  was  the  practice,  in  the  salutations  of 
the  epistle.  Accordingly  we  find  the  names  of  Aristar- 
chus,  Marcus,  Epaphras,  Luke,  and  Demas,  in  both  epis- 
tles. Timothy,  who  is  joined  with  St.  Paul  in  the  super- 
scription of  the  Epistle  to  the  Colossians,  is  joined  with 
him  in  this.  Tychicus  did  not  salute  Philemon,  because 
he  accompanied  the  epistle  to  Colosse,  and  would  un- 
doubtedly there  see  him.  Yet  the  reader  of  the  Epistle 
to  Philemon  will  remark  one  considerable  diversity  in  the 
catalogue  of  saluting  friends,  and  which  shows  that  the 
catalogue  was  not  copied  from  that  to  the  Colossians. 
In  the  Epistle  to  the  Colossians,  Aristarchus  is  called  by 
St.  Paul,  his  fellow-prisoner,  Colos.  chap.  iv.  10 ;  in  the 
Epistle  to  Philemon,  Aristarchus  is  mentioned  without 
any  addition,  and  the  title  of  fellow-prisoner  is  given  to 
Epaphras.* 

And  let  it  also  be  observed  that,  notwithstanding  the 
close  and  circumstantial  agreement  between  the  two  epis- 
tles, this  is  not  the  case  of  an  opening  left  in  a  genuine 
writing,  which  an  impostor  is  induced  to  fill  up;  nor  of  a 
reference  to  some  writing  not  extant,  which  sets  a  sophist 
at  work  to  supply  the  loss,  in  like  manner  as,  because  St. 
Paul  was  supposed  (Colos.  chap.  iv.   16)  to  allude  to  an 

*  Dr.  Benson  observes,  and  perhaps  truly,  that  the  appellation  of  fellow- 
prisoner,  as  applied  by  St.  Paul  to  Epaphras,  did  not  imply  that  they  were 
imprisoned  together  at  the  time ;  any  more  than  your  calling  a  person  your 
fellow-traveller  imports  that  you  are  then  upon  your  travels.  If  he  had, 
upon  any  former  occasion,  travelled  with  you,  you  might  afterwards  speak 
of  him  under  that  title.     It  is  just  so  with  the  term  fellow-prisoner. 


228  THE    EPISTLE    TO    PHILEMON. 

epistle  written  by  him  to  the  Laodiceans,  some  person 
has  from  thence  taken  the  hint  of  uttering  a  forgery  un- 
der that  title.  The  present,  I  say,  is  not  that  case ;  for 
Philemon's  name  is  not  mentioned  in  the  Epistle  to  the 
Colossians ;  Onesimus's  servile  condition  is  nowhere 
hinted  at,  any  more  than  his  crime,  his  flight,  or  the  place 
or  time  of  his  conversion.  The  story  therefore  of  the 
epistle,  if  it  be  a  fiction,  is  a  fiction  to  wiiich  the  author 
could  not  have  been  guided  by  any  thing  he  had  read  in 
St.  Paul's  genuine  writings. 


No.  III. 

Ver.  4,  5.  "  I  thank  my  God,  making  mention  of  thee 
always  in  my  prayers,  hearing  of  thy  love  and  faith, 
which  thou  hast  toward  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  toward  all 
saints." 

*'  Hearing  of  thy  love  and  faith,"  This  is  the  form  of 
speech  which  St.  Paul  was  wont  to  use  towards  those 
churches  which  he  had  not  seen,  or  then  visited :  see 
Rom.  chap.  i.  8;  Ephes.  chap.  i.  15;  Colos.  chap.  i.  3, 
4.  Toward  those  churches  and  persons  with  whom  he 
was  previously  acquainted,  he  employed  a  different 
phrase;  as,  "I  thank  my  God  always  on  your  behalf, 
1  Cor.  chap.  i.  4;  2  Thess.  chap.  i.  3;  or,  "upon  every 
remembrance  of  you,"  Phil.  chap.  i.  3 ;  1  Thess.  chap. 
i.  2,  3 ;  2  Tim.  chap.  i.  3 ;  and  never  speaks  of  hearing 
of  them.  Yet  1  think  it  must  be  concluded,  from  the  nine- 
teenth verse  of  this  epistle,  that  Philemon  had  been  con- 
verted by  St.  Paul  himself:  "Albeit,  I  do  not  say  to  thee 
how  thou  owest  unto  me  even  thine  own  self  besides." 
Here  then  is  a  peculiarity.  Let  us  inquire  whether  the 
epistle  supplies  any  circumstance  which  will  account  for 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    PHILEMON.  229 

it.  We  have  seen  that  it  may  be  made  out,  not  from  the 
epistle  itself,  but  from  a  comparison  of  the  epistle  with 
that  to  the  Colossians,  that  Philemon  was  an  inhabitant 
of  Colosse :  and  it  farther  appears,  from  the  Epistle  to 
the  Colossians,  that  St.  Paul  had  never  been  in  that  city : 
"  I  would  that  ye  knew  what  great  conflict  I  have  for  you 
and  for  them  at  Laodicea,  and  for  as  many  as  have  not 
seen  my  face  in  the  flesh."  Col.  chap.  ii.  1.  Although, 
therefore,  St.  Paul  had  formerly  met  with  Philemon  at 
some  other  place,  and  had  been  the  immediate  instrument 
of  his  conversion,  yet  Philemon's  faith  and  conduct  after- 
wards, inasmuch  as  he  lived  in  a  city  which  St.  Paul  had 
never  visited,  could  only  be  known  to  him  by  fame  and 
reputation. 


No.  IV. 

The  tenderness  and  delicacy  of  this  epistle  have  long 
been  admired  :  "  Though  I  might  be  much  bold  in  Christ 
to  enjoin  thee  that  which  is  convenient,  yet  for  love's  sake 
I  rather  beseech  thee,  being  such  an  one  as  Paul  the  aged, 
and  now  also  a  prisoner  of  Jesus  Christ ;  I  beseech  thee 
for  my  son  Onesimus,  w^hom  I  have  begotten  in  my 
bonds."  There  is  something  certainly  very  melting  and 
persuasive  in  this,  and  every  part  of  the  epistle.  Yet  in 
my  opinion,  the  character  of  St.  Paul  prevails  in  it 
throughout.  The  warm,  aflfectionate,  authoritative  teacher 
is  interceding  with  an  absent  friend  for  a  beloved  convert. 
He  urges  his  suit  with  an  earnestness  befitting  perhaps 
not  so  much  the  occasion  as  the  ardor  and  sensibility  of 
his  own  mind.  Here  also,  as  everywhere,  he  shows  him- 
self conscious  of  the  weight  and  dignity  of  his  mission ; 


230  THE    EPISTLE    TO    PHILEMON. 

nor  does  he  suffer  Philemon  for  a  moment  to  forget  it :  "I 
■might  be  much  bold  in  Christ  to  enjoin  thee  that  which 
is  convenient."'  He  is  careful  also  to  recall,  though 
obliquely,  to  Philemon's  memory,  the  sacred  obligation 
under  which  he  had  laid  him.  by  bringing  to  him  the 
knowledge  of  Jesus  Christ :  *'  I  do  not  say  to  thee  how 
thou  owest  to  me  even  thine  own  self  besides."  Without 
laying  aside,  therefore,  the  apostolic  character,  our  author 
softens  the  imperative  style  of  his  address,  by  mixing  with 
it  every  sentiment  and  consideration  that  could  move  the 
heart  of  his  correspondent.  Aged  and  in  prison,  he  is 
content  to  supplicate  and  entreat.  Onesimus  was  ren- 
dered dear  to  him  by  his  conversion,  and  his  services  ; 
the  child  of  his  affliction,  and  "ministering  unto  him  in 
the  bonds  of  the  Gospel."  This  ought  to  recommend  him, 
whatever  had  been  his  fault,  to  Philemon's  forgiveness: 
"Receive  him  as  myself,  as  my  own  bowels."  Every  thing 
however  should  be  voluntary.  St.  Paul  was  determined 
that  Philemon's  compliance  should  flow  from  his  own 
bounty :  "  Without  thy  mind  would  I  do  nothing,  that  thy 
benefit  should  not  be  as  it  were  of  necessity,  but  willing- 
ly ;"  trusting  nevertheless  to  his  gratitude  and  attachment 
for  the  performance  of  all  that  he  requested,  and  for 
more  :  "  Having  confidence  in  thy  obedience,  I  wrote 
unto  thee,  knowing  that  thou  wilt  also  do  more  than  I 
say." 

St.  Paul's  discourse  at  Miletus  ;  his  speech  before 
Agrippa  ;  his  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  as  hath  been  re- 
marked (No.  VIII.)  ;  that  to  the  Galatians,  chap.  iv.  11 — 
20  ;  to  the  Philippians,  chap.  i.  29,  chap.  ii.  2  ;  the  Sec- 
ond to  the  Corinthians,  chap.  vi.  1 — 13;  and,  indeed,  some 
part  or  other  of  almost  every  epistle,  exhibit  examples 
of  a  similar  application  to  the  feelings  and  affections  of 


THE    EPISTLE    TO    PHILEMON.  231 

the  persons  whom  he  addresses.  And  it  is  observable 
that  these  pathetic  effusions,  drawn  for  the  most  part  from 
his  own  sufferings  and  situation,  usually  precede  a  com- 
mand, soften  a  rebuke,  or  mitigate  the  harshness  of  some 
disagreeable  truth. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

THE  SUBSCRIPTIONS  OF  THE  EPISTLES. 

Six  of  these  subscriptions  are  false  or  improbable ; 
that  is,  they  are  either  absolutely  contradicted  by  the 
contents  of  the  epistle,  or  are  difficult  to  be  reconciled 
with  them. 

I.  The  subscription  of  the  First  Epistle  to  the  Corin- 
thians states  that  it  was  written  from  Philippi,  notwith- 
standing that,  in  the  sixteenth  chapter  and  eighth  verse  of 
the  epistle,  St.  Paul  informs  the  Corinthians  that  he  will 
"tarry  at  Ephesus  until  Pentecost;"  and  notwitstanding 
that  he  begins  the  salutations  in  the  epistle  by  telling 
them  "the  churches  of  Asia  salute  you  ;"  a  pretty  evident 
indication  that  he  himself  was  in  Asia  at  this  time. 

II.  The  Epistle  to  the  Galatians  is  by  the  subscription 
dated  from  Rome  :  yet,  in  the  epistle  itself,  St.  Paul  ex- 
presses his  surprise  "  that  they  were  so  soon  removed 
from  him  that  called  them  ;"  whereas  his  journey  to 
Rome  was  ten  years  posterior  to  the  conversion  of  the 
Galatians.  And  what,  I  think,  is  more  conclusive,  the 
author,  though  speaking  of  himself  in  this  more  than 
any  other  epistle,  does  not  once  mention  his  bonds,  or 
call  himself  a  prisoner  ;  which  he  had  not  failed  to  do  in 
every  one  of  the  four  epistles  written  from  that  city,  and 
during  that  imprisonment. 

III.  The  First  Epistle  to  the  Thessalonians  was  written, 
the  subscription  tells  us,  from  Athens ;  yet  the  epistle 
refers  expressly  to  the  coming  of  Timotheus  from  Thes- 


THE    SUBSCRIPTIONS    OF    THE    EPISTLES.  233 

salonica,  chap.  iii.  6  ;  and  the  history  informs  us,  Acts, 
xviii.  5,  that  Timothy  came  out  of  Macedonia  to  St.  Paul 
at  Corinth. 

IV.  The  Second  Epistle  to  the  Thessalonians  is  dated, 
and  without  any  discoverable  reason,  from  Athens  also. 
If  it  be  truly  the  second ;  if  it  refer,  as  it  appears  to  do, 
chap.  ii.  2,  to  the  first,  and  the  first  was  written  from  Cor- 
inth, the  place  must  be  erroneously  assigned,  for  the  his- 
tory does  not  allow  us  to  suppose  that  St.  Paul,  after  he 
had  reached  Corinth,  went  back  to  Athens. 

V.  The  First  Epistle  to  Timothy  the  subscription  as- 
serts to  have  been  sent  from  Laodicea ;  yet,  when  St. 
Paul  writes,  "  I  besought  thee  to  abide  still  at  Ephesus, 
noQEvofiepog  sig  Maxedoviav  (when  I  set  out  for  Macedonia)," 
the  reader  is  naturally  led  to  conclude  that  he  wrote  the 
letter  upon  his  arrival  in  that  country. 

VI.  The  Epistle  to  Titus  is  dated  from  JVicopolis  in 
Macedonia,  whilst  no  city  of  that  name  is  known  to  have 
existed  in  that  province. 

The  use,  and  the  only  use,  which  I  make  of  these  ob- 
servations, is  to  show  how  easily  errors  and  contradic- 
tions steal  in  where  the  writer  is  not  guided  by  original 
knowledge.  There  are  only  eleven  distinct  assignments 
of  date  to  St.  Paul's  Epistles  (for  the  four  written  from 
Rome  may  be  considered  as  plainly  contemporary)  ;  and, 
of  these,  six  seem  to  be  erroneous.  I  do  not  attribute  any 
authority  to  these  subscriptions.  I  believe  them  to  have 
been  conjectures  founded  sometimes  upon  loose  traditions, 
but  more  generally  upn  a  consideration  of  some  particu- 
lar text,  without  sufficiently  comparing  it  with  other  parts 
of  the  epistle,  with  diflferent  epistles,  or  with  the  history. 
Suppose  then  that  the  subscriptions  had  come  down  to 
us  as  authentic  parts  of  the  epistles,  there  would  have 
been  more  contrarieties  and  difficulties  arising  out  of  these 


234  THE    SUBSCRIPTIONS    OF    THE    EPISTLES. 

final  verses  than  from  all  the  rest  of  the  volume.  Yet, 
if  the  epistles  had  been  forged,  the  whole  must  have  been 
made  up  of  the  same  elements  as  those  of  which  the  sub- 
scriptions are  composed,  viz.  tradition,  conjecture,  and  in- 
ference ;  and  it  would  have  remained  to  be  accounted 
for,  how,  whilst  so  many  errors  were  crowded  into  the 
concluding  clauses  of  the  letters,  so  much  consistency 
should  be  preserved  in  other  parts. 

The  same  reflection  arises  from  observing  the  over- 
sights and  mistakes  which  learned  men  have  committed, 
when  arguing  upon  allusions  which  relate  to  time  and 
place,  or  when  endeavoring  to  digest  scattered  circum- 
stances into  a  continued  story.  It  is  indeed  the  same 
case  :  for  these  subscriptions  must  be  regarded  as  ancient 
scholia,  and  as  nothing  more.  Of  this  liability  to  error  I 
can  present  the  reader  with  a  notable  instance  ;  and 
which  I  bring  forward  for  no  other  purpose  than  that  to 
which  I  apply  the  erroneous  subscriptions.  Ludovicus 
Capellus,  in  that  part  of  his  Historia  Apostolica  Illustrata, 
which  is  entitled  De  Ordim  Epist.  Paul.,  writing  upon 
the  Second  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  triumphs  unmerci- 
fully over  the  want  of  sagacity  in  Baronius,  who,  it  seems, 
makes  St.  Paul  write  his  Epistle  to  Titus  from  Mace- 
donia upon  his  second  visit  into  that  province  ;  whereas 
it  appears,  from  the  history,  that  Titus,  instead  of  being 
at  Crete,  where  the  ^episTTe  places  him,  was  at  that  time 
sent  by  the  apostle  from  Macedonia  to  Corinth.  "Ani- 
madvertere  est,"  says  Capellus,  "  magnam  hominis  illius 
u6le\ipiay^  qui  vult  Titum  a  Paulo  in  Cretam  abductum, 
illicque  relictum,  cum  inde  Nicopolim  navigaret,  quern 
tamen  agnoscit  a  Paulo  ex  Macedonia  missum  esse  Cor- 
inthum."  This  probably  will  be  thought  a  detection  of 
inconsistency  in  Baronius.  But  what  is  the  most  remark- 
able is,  that  in  the  same  chapter  in  which  he  thus  indulges 


THE    SUBSCRIPTIONS    OF    THE    EPISTLES.  235 

his  contempt  of  Baronius's  judgment,  Capellus  himself 
falls  into  an  error  of  the  same  kind,  and  more  gross 
and  palpable  than  that  which  he  reproves.  For  he 
begins  the  chapter  by  stating  the  Second  Epistle  to  the 
Corinthians  and  the  First  Epistle  to  Timothy  to  be  nearly 
contemporary  ;  to  have  been  both  written  dunng  the 
apostle's  second  visit  into  Macedonia;  and  that  a  doubt 
subsisted  concerning  the  immediate  priority  of  their 
dates:  "  Posterior  ad  eosdem  Corinthios  Epistola,  et  Prior 
ad  Timotheum  certant  de  prioritate,  et  sub  judice  lis  est ; 
utraque  autem  scripta  est  paulo  postquam  Paul  us  Epheso 
discessisset,  adeoque  dum  Macedoniam  peragraret,  sed 
utra  tempore  praecedat,  non  liquet."  Now,  in  the  first 
place,  it  is  highly  improbable  that  the  two  epistles  should 
have  been  written  either  nearly  together,  or  during  the 
same  journey  through  Macedonia  ;  for,  in  the  Epistle  to 
the  Corinthians,  Timothy  appears  to  have  been  with  St. 
Paul ;  in  the  epistle  addressed  to  him,  to  have  been  left 
behind  at  Ephesus,  and  not  only  left  behind,  but  directed 
to  continue  there,  till  St.  Paul  should  return  to  that  city. 
In  the  second  place,  it  is  inconceivable  that  a  question 
should  be  proposed  concerning  the  priority  of  date  of  the 
the  two  epistles ;  for,  when  St.  Paul,  in  his  epistle  to 
Timothy,  opens  his  address  to  him  by  saying,  "  As  I  be- 
sought thee  to  abide  still  at  Ephesus  when  I  went  into 
Macedonia,"  no  reader  can  doubt  but  that  he  here 
refers  to  the  last  interview  which  had  passed  between 
them ;  that  he  had  not  seen  him  since :  whereas,  if  the 
epistle  be  posterior  to  that  to  the  Corinthians,  yet  written 
upon  the  same  visit  into  Macedonia,  this  could  not  be 
true  ;  for,  as  Timothy  was  along  with  St.  Paul  when  he 
wrote  to  the  Corinthians,  he  must,  upon  this  supposition, 
have  passed  over  to  St.  Paul  in  Macedonia,  after  he  had 
been  left  by  him  at  Ephesus,  and  must  have  returned  to 


236  THE     SUBSCRIPTIONS    OF    THE    EPISTLES. 

Ephesus  again  before  the  epistle  was  written.  What 
misled  Ludovicus  Capellus  was  simply  this, — that  he  had 
entirely  overlooked  Timothy's  name  in  the  superscription 
of  the  Second  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians.  Which  over- 
sight appears  not  only  in  the  quotation  which  we  have 
given,  but  from  his  telling  us,  as  he  does,  that  Timothy 
came  from  Ephesus  to  St.  Paul  at  Corinth,  whereas,  the 
superscription  proves  that  Timothy  was  already  with 
St.  Paul  when  he  wrote  to  the  Corinthians  from  Mace- 
donia. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

THE  CONCLUSION. 

In  the  outset  of  this  inquiry,  the  reader  was  directed  to 
consider  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  and  the  thirteen  epistles 
of  St.  Paul,  as  certain  ancient  manuscripts  lately  discov- 
ered in  the  closet  of  some  celebrated  library.  We  have 
adhered  to  this  v\ew  of  the  subject.  External  evidence  of 
every  kind  has  been  removed  out  of  sight ;  and  our  en- 
deavors have  been  employed  to  collect  the  indications  of 
truth  and  authenticity,  which  appeared  to  exist  in  the 
writings  themselves,  and  to  result  from  a  comparison  of 
their  different  parts.  It  is  not,  however,  necessary  to 
continue  this  supposition  longer.  The  testimony  which 
other  remains  of  contemporary,  or  the  monuments  of  ad- 
joining ages,  afford  to  the  reception,  notoriety,  and  public 
estimation,  of  a  book,  form,  no  doubt,  the  first  proof  of  its 
genuineness.  And  in  no  books  whatever  is  this  proof 
more  complete  than  in  those  at  present  under  our  consid- 
eration. The  inquiries  of  learned  men,  and,  above  all,  of 
the  excellent  Lardner,  who  never  overstates  a  point  of 
evidence,  and  whose  fidelity  in  citing  his  authorities  has, 
in  no  one  instance,  been  impeached,  have  established,  con- 
cerning these  writings,  the  following  propositions : 

1.  That  in  the  age  immediately  posterior  to  that  in 
which  St.  Paul  lived,  his  letters  were  publicly  read  and 
acknowledged. 

Some  of  them  are  quoted  or  alluded  to  by  almost  every 
Christian  writer  that  followed  ;  by  Clement  of  Rome,  by 


238  THE    CONCLUSION. 

Hermas,  by  Ignatius,  by  Polycarp,  disciples  or  contempo- 
raries of  the  apostles  ;  by  Justin  Martyr,  by  the  churches 
of  Gaul,  by  Irenasus,  by  Athenagoras,  by  Theophilus,  by 
Clement  of  Alexandria,  by  Hermias,  by  Tertullian,  who 
occupied  the  succeeding  age.  Now,  when  we  find  a 
book  quoted  or  referred  to  by  an  ancient  author,  we  are 
entitled  to  conclude  that  it  was  read  and  received  in  the 
age  and  country  in  which  that  author  lived.  And  this 
conclusion  does  not,  in  any  degree,  rest  upon  the  judg- 
ment or  character  of  the  author  making  such  reference. 
Proceeding  by  this  rule,  we  have,  concerning  the  First 
Epistle  to  the  Corinthians  in  particular,  within  forty  years 
after  the  epistle  was  written,  evidence,  not  only  of  its 
being  extant  at  Corinth,  but  of  its  being  known  and  read 
at  Rome.  Clement,  bishop  of  that  city,  writing  to  the 
church  of  Corinth,  uses  these  words  :  "  Take  into  your 
hands  the  epistle  of  the  blessed  Paul  the  apostle.  What 
did  he  at  first  write  unto  you  in  the  beginning  of  the  Gos- 
pel ?  Verily  he  did  by  the  Spirit  admonish  you  concern- 
ing himself,  and  Cephas,  and  Apollos,  because  that  even 
then  you  did  form  parties."*  This  was  written  at  a  time 
when,  probably,  some  must  have  been  living  at  Corinth 
who  remembered  St.  Paul's  ministry  there,  and  the  re- 
ceipt of  the  epistle.  The  testimony  is  still  more  valuable, 
as  it  shows  that  the  epistles  were  preserved  in  the 
churches  to  which  they  were  sent,  and  that  they  were 
spread  and  propagated  from  them  to  the  rest  of  the  Chris- 
tian community.  Agreeably  to  v/hich  natural  mode  and 
order  of  their  publication,  Tertullian,  a  century  after- 
wards, for  proof  of  the  integrity  and  genuineness  of  the 
apostolic  writings,  bids  "  any  one  who  is  willing  to  exer- 
cise his  curiosity  profitably  in  the  business  of  their  salva- 
tion, to  visit  the  apostolical  churches,  in  which  their  very 
♦  See  Lardner,  vol.  xii.  p.  22. 


THE    CONCLUSION.  239 

authentic  letters  are  recited,  ipsae  autlienticae  literoe  eorum 
recitantur."  Then  he  goes  ^M  :  "  Is-  Achaia  near  you  ? 
You  have  Corinth.  If  you  are  not  far  from  Macedonia, 
you  have  Philippi,  you  have  Thessalonica.  If  you  can 
go  to  Asia,  you  have  Ephesus  ;  but,  if  you  are  near  to 
Italy,  you  have  Rome."*  I  adduce  this  passage  to  show 
that  the  distinct  churches  or  Christian  societies,  to  which 
St.  Paul's  epistles  were  sent,  subsisted  for  some  ages  after- 
wards ;  that  his  several  epistles  were  all  along  respec- 
tively read  in  those  churches  ;  and  that  Christians  at  large 
received  them  from  those  churches,  and  appealed  to  those 
churches  for  their  originality  and  authenticity. 

Arguing  in  like  manner  from  citations  and  allusions, 
we  have,  within  the  space  of  a  hundred  and  fifty  years 
from  the  time  that  the  first  of  St.  Paul's  epistles  was  writ- 
ten, proofs  of  almost  all  of  them  being  read  in  Palestine, 
Syria,  the  countries  of  Asia  Minor,  in  Egypt,  in  that  part 
of  Africa  which  used  the  Latin  tongue,  in  Greece,  Italy 
and  Gaul.f  I  do  not  mean  simply  to  assert  that,  within 
the  space  of  a  hundred  and  fifty  years,  St.  Paul's  epistles 
were  read  in  those  countries,  for  I  believe  that  they  were 
read  and  circulated  from  the  beginning ;  but  that  proofs 
of  their  being  so  read  occur  within  that  period.  And 
when  it  is  considered  how  few  of  the  primitive  Christians 
wrote,  and  of  what  was  written,  how  much  is  lost,  we  are 
to  account  it  extraordinary,  or  rather  as  a  sure  proof  of 
the  extensiveness  of  the  reputation  of  these  writings,  and 
of  the  general  respect  in  which  they  were  held,  that  so 
many  testimonies,  and  of  such  antiquity,  are  still  extant. 
'*  In  the  remaining  works  of  Irenseus,  Clement  of  Alexan-  j 
dria,  and  Tertullian,  there  are,  perhaps,  more  and  larger 
quotations  of  the  small  volume  of  the  New  Testament 

*  See  liardner,  vol.  ii.  p.  598. 

f  See  Lardner's  Recapitulation,  vol.  xii.  p.  53. 


240  THE    CONCLUSION. 

than  of  all  the  works  of  Cicero  in  the  writings  of  all  char- 
^  acters  for  several  ages.  We  must  add  that  the  epistles  of 
Paul  come  in  for  their  full  share  of  this  observation  ;  and 
that  all  the  thirteen  epistles,  except  that  to  Philemon, 
which  is  not  quoted  by  Irenaeus  or  Clement,  and  which 
probably  escaped  notice  merely  by  its  brevity, are  sever- 
ally cited,  and  expressly  recognized  as  St.  Paul's,  by  each 
of  these  Christian  writers.  The  Ebionites,  an  early, 
though  inconsiderable  Christian  sect,  rejected  St.  Paul 
and  his  epistles  ;*  that  is,  they  rejected  these  epistles,  not 
because  they  were  not,  but  because  they  were,  St.  Paul's ; 
and  because,  adhering  to  the  obligation  of  the  Jewish 
law,  they  chose  to  dispute  his  doctrine  and  authority. 
Their  suffrage  as  to  the  genuineness  of  the  epistles  does 
not  contradict  that  of  other  Christians.  Marcion,  an  he- 
retical writer  in  the  former  part  of  the  second  century,  is 
said  by  Tertullian  to  have  rejected  three  of  the  epistles 
which  we  now  receive,  viz.  the  two  Epistles  to  Timothy 
and  the  Epistle  to  Titus.  It  appears  to  me  not  improba- 
ble that  Marcion  might  make  some  such  distinction  as 
this,  that  no  apostolic  epistle  was  to  be  admitted  which 
was  not  read  or  attested  by  the  church  to  which  it  was 
sent ;  for  it  is  remarkable  that,  together  with  these  epis- 
tles to  private  persons,  he  rejected  also  the  cathohc  epis- 
tles. Now  the  catholic  epistles,  and  the  epistles  to  private 
persons,  agree  in  the  circumstance  of  wanting  this  partic- 
ular species  of  attestation.  Marcion,  it  seems,  acknowl- 
edged the  Epistle  to  Philemon,  and  is  upbraided  for  his 
inconsistency  in  doing  so  by  Tertullian,t  who  asks,  "  why, 
when  he  received  a  letter  written  to  a  single  person,  he 
should  refuse  two  to  Timothy  and  one  to  Titus  composed 
upon  the  affairs  of  the  church  ?"  This  passage  so  far 
favors  our  account  of  Marcion's  objection  as  it  shows  that 
*  Lardner,  vol.  ii.  p.  808.  f  Ibid.  vol.  xiv.  p.  455. 


THE    CONCLUSION.  241 

the  objection  was  supposed  by  Tertullian  to  have  been 
founded  in  something  which  belonged  to  the  nature  of  a 
private  letter. 

Nothing  of  the  works  of  Marcion  remains.  Probably 
he  was,  after  all,  a  rash,  arbitrary,  licentious  critic,  (if  he 
deserved,  indeed,  the  name  of  critic),  and  who  offered  no 
reason  for  his  determination.  What  St.  Jerome  says  of 
him  intimates  this,  and  is  besides  founded  in  good  sense  : 
Speaking  of  him  and  Basilides, "  If  they  had  assigned  any 
reasons,"  says  he,  "  why  they  did  not  reckon  these  epis- 
tles," viz.  the  First  and  Second  to  Timothy  and  the  Epis- 
tle to  Titus, "  to  be  the  apostle's,  we  would  have  endeav- 
ored to  have  answered  them,  and  perHaps  might  have 
satisfied  the  reader  :  but  when  they  take  upon  them,  by 
their  own  authority,  to  pronounce  one  epistle  to  be  St. 
Paul's  and  another  not,  they  can  only  be  replied  to  in  the 
same  manner."*  Let  it  be  remembered,  however,  that 
Marcion  received  ten  of  these  epistles.  His  authority, 
therefore,  even  if  his  credit  had  been  better  than  it  is,  forms 
a  very  small  exception  to  the  uniformity  of  the  evidence. 
Of  Basilides,  we  know  still  less  than  we  do  of  Marcion. 
The  same  observation,  however,  belongs  to  him,  viz.  that 
his  objection,  as  far  as  appears  from  this  passage  of  St. 
Jerome,  was  confined  to  the  three  private  epistles.  Yet 
is  this  the  only  opinion  which  can  be  said  to  disturb  the 
consent  of  the  first  two  centuries  of  the  Christian  era;  for, 
as  to  Tatian,  who  is  reported  by  Jerome  alone  to  have 
rejected  some  of  St.  Paul's  epistles,  the  extravagant,  or 
rather  delirious,  notions  into  which  he  fell,  take  away  all 
weight  and  credit  from  his  judgment — if,  indeed,  Jerome's 
account  of  this  circumstance  be  correct ;  for  it  appears 
from  much  older  writers  than  Jerome,  that  Tatian  owned 
and  used  many  of  these  epistles.f 

*  Lardner,  vol.  xiv.  p.  458.  t  Ibid.  vol.  i.  p.  313. 

11 


P>4 


242  THE    CONCLUSION. 

II.  They  who  in  those  ages  disputed  about  so  many 
other  points  agreed  in  acknowledging  the  Scriptures  now 
before  us.  Contending  sects  appealed  to  them  in  their 
controversies  with  equal  and  unreserved  submission. 
When  they  were  urged  by  one  side,  however  they  might 
be  interpreted  or  misinterpreted  by  the  other,  their  au- 
thority was  not  questioned.  "  Reliqui  omnes,"  says  Ire- 
nseus,  speaking  of  Marcion,  "  falso  scientiae  nomine  in- 
flati,  scripturas  quidem  confitentur,  interpretationes  vero 
convertunt."* 

III.  When  the  genuineness  of  some  other  writings 
which  were  in  circulation,  and  even  of  a  few  which  are 
now  received  into  the  canon,  was  contested,  these  were 
never  called  into  dispute.  Whatever  was  the  objection, 
or  whether  in  truth  there  ever  was  any  real  objection,  to 
the  authenticity  of  the  Second  Epistle  of  Peter,  the  Sec- 
ond and  Third  of  John  ;  the  Epistle  of  James,  or  that  of 
Jude,  or  to  the  book  of  the  Revelation  of  St.  John ;  the 
doubts  that  appeared  to  have  been  entertained  concern- 
ing them  exceedingly  strengthen  the  force  of  the  testi- 
mony as  to  those  writings  about  which  there  was  no 
doubt :  because  it  shows  that  the  matter  was  a  subject, 
amongst  the  early  Christians,  of  examination  and  discus- 
sion ;  and  that,  where  there  was  any  room  to  doubt,  they 
did  doubt. 

What  Eusebius  hath  left  upon  the  subject  is  directly  to 
the  purpose  of  this  observation.  Eusebius,  it  is  well 
known,  divided  the  ecclesiastical  writings  which  were  ex- 
tant in  his  time  into  three  classes :  the  avixrrtiJ^ijTa  uncon- 
tradicted," as  he  calls  them  in  one  chapter  ;  or,  "  scriptures 
universally  acknowledged,"  as  he  calls  them  in  another :  the 
•'  controverted,  yet  well  known  and  approved  by  many ;" 
and  "the  spurious."  What  were  the  shades  of  differ- 
*  Iren.  advers.  Hser.,  quoted  by  Lardner,  vol.  xv.  p.  425. 


THE    CONCLUSION.  243 

ence  in  the  books  of  the  second,  or  of  those  in  the  third 
class ;  or  what  it  was  precisely  that  he  meant  by  the 
term  spurious,  it  is  not  necessary  in  this  place  to  inquire. 
It  is  sufficient  for  us  to  find  that  the  thirteen  epistles  of 
St.  Paul  are  placed  by  him  in  the  first  class,  without  any 
sort  of  hesitation  or  doubt. 

It  is  farther  also  to  be  collected  from  the  chapter  in 
which  this  distinction  is  laid  down,  that  the  method  made 
use  of  by  Eusebius,  and  by  the  Christians  of  his  time,  viz. 
the  close  of  the  third  century,  in  judging  concerning  the 
sacred  authority  of  any  books,  was  to  inquire  after  and 
consider  the  testimony  of  those  who  Hved  near  the  age 
of  the  apostles.* 

IV.  That  no  ancient  writing,  which  is  attested  as  these 
epistles  are,  hath  had  its  authenticity  disproved,  or  is  in 
fact  questioned.  The  controversies  which  have  been 
moved  concerning  suspected  writings,  as  the  epistles,  for 
instance,  of  Phalaris,  or  the  eighteen  epistles  of  Cicero, 
begin  by  showing  that  this  attestation  is  wanting.  That 
being  proved,  the  question  is  thrown  back  upon  internal 
marks  of  spuriousness  or  authenticity  ;  and  in  these  the 
dispute  is  occupied.  In  which  disputes  it  is  to  be  observed 
that  the  contested  writings  are  commonly  attacked  by 
arguments  drawn  from  some  opposition  which  they  be- 
tray to  "  authentic  history,"  to  "  true  epistles,"  to  the 
"  real  sentiments  or  circumstances  of  the  author  whom 
they  personate  ;"t  which  authentic  history,  which  true 
epistles,  which  real  sentiments  themselves,  are  no  other 
than  ancient  documents,  whose  early  existence  and  recep- 
tion can  be  proved,  in  the  manner  in  which  the  writings 
before  us  are  traced  up  to  the  age  of  their  reputed  author, 

*  Lardner,  vol.  viii.  p.  106. 

I  See  the  tracts  written  in  the  controversy  between  Tunstal  and  Middle- 
ton,  upon  certain  suspected  epistles  ascribed  to  Cicero. 


244  THE    CONCLUSION. 

or  to  ages  near  to  his.  A  modern  who  sits  down  to  com- 
pose the  history  of  some  ancient  period,  has  no  stronger 
evidence  to  appeal  to  for  the  most  confident  assertion,  or 
the  most  undisputed  fact,  that  he  deHvers,  than  writings 
whose  genuineness  is  proved  by  the  same  medium  through 
which  we  evince  the  authenticity  of  ours.  Nor,  whilst 
he  can  have  recourse  to  such  authorities  as  these,  does  he 
apprehend  any  uncertainty  in  his  accounts,  from  the  sus- 
picion of  spuriousness  or  imposture  in  his  materials. 

v.  It  cannot  be  shown  that  any  forgeries,  properly  so 
called,*  that  is,  writings  published  under  the  name  of  the 
person  who  did  not  compose  them,  made  their  appearance 
in  the  first  century  of  the  Christian  era,  in  which  century 
these  epistles  undoubtedly  existed.  I  shall  set  down 
under  this  proposition  the  guarded  words  of  Lardner 
himself:  "  There  are  no  quotations  of  any  books  of  them 
(spurious  and  apocryphal  books)  in  the  apostolical  fathers, 
by  whom  I  mean  Barnabas,  Clement  of  Rome,  Hermas, 
Ignatius,  and  Polycarp,  whose  writings  reach  from  the 
year  of  our  Lord  70  to  the  year  108.  /  say  this  confi- 
dently, because  I  think  it  has  been  proved."*'  Lardner,  vol 
xii.  p.  158. 

Nor  when  they  did  appear  were  they  much  used  by 
the  primitive  Christians.  "  Irenaeus  quotes  not  any  of 
these  books.  He  mentions  some  of  them,  but  he  never 
quotes  them.  The  same  may  be  said  of  Tertuliian  :  he 
has  mentioned  a  book  called"  Acts  of  Paul  and  Thecla  ;" 
but  it  is  only  to  condemn  it.  Clement  of  Alexandria  and 
Origen  have  mentioned  and  quoted  several  such  books, 
but  never  as  authority,  and  sometimes  with  express  marks 
of  dislike.     Eusebius  quoted  no  such  books  in  any  of  his 

*  I  believe  that  there  is  a  great  deal  of  truth  in  Dr.  Lardner's  observa- 
tion, that  comparatively  few  of  those  books  vphich  we  call  apocryphal  were 
strictly  and  originally  forgeries.     See  Lardner,  vol.  xii.  p.  167. 


THE    CONCLUSION.  245 

works.  He  has  mentioned  them  indeed,  but  how  ?  Not 
by  way  of  approbation,  but  to  show  that  they  were  of  lit- 
tle or  no  value  ;  and  that  they  never  were  received  by  the 
sounder  part  of  Christians."  Now,  if  with  this,  which  is 
advanced  after  the  most  minute  and  diligent  examination, 
we  compare  what  the  same  cautious  writer  had  before  said 
of  our  received  Scriptures, "  that  in  the  works  of  three  only 
of  the  above-mentioned  fathers  there  are  more  and  larger 
quotations  of  the  small  volume  of  the  New  Testament 
than  of  all  the  works  of  Cicero  in  the  writers  of  all  char- 
acters for  several  ages  ;"  and  if  with  the  marks  of  obscu- 
rity or  condemnation,  which  accompanied  the  mention 
of  the  several  apocryphal  Christian  writings,  when  they 
happened  to  be  mentioned  at  all,  we  contrast  what  Dr. 
Lardner's  work  completely  and  in  detail  makes  out  con- 
cerning the  writings  which  we  defend,  and  what,  having 
so  made  out,  he  thought  himself  authorized  in  his  conclu- 
sion to  assert,  that  these  books  were  not  only  received 
from  the  beginning,  but  received  with  the  greatest  re- 
spect ;  have  been  publicly  and  solemnly  read  in  the  as- 
semblies of  Christians  throughout  the  world,  in  every  age 
from  that  time  to  this  ;  early  translated  into  the  languages 
of  divers  countries  and  people  ;  commentaries  writ  to  ex- 
plain and  illustrate  them  ;  quoted  by  way  of  proof  in  all 
arguments  of  a  religious  nature  ;  recommended  to  the  pe- 
rusal of  unbelievers,  as  containing  the  authentic  account 
of  the  Christian  doctrine  ; — when  we  attend,  I  say,  to  this 
representation,  we  perceive  in  it  not  only  full  proof  of  the 
early  notoriety  of  these  books,  but  a  clear  and  sensible 
line  of  discrimination,  which  separates  these  from  the  pre- 
tensions of  any  others. 

The  epistles  of  St.  Paul  stand  particularly  free  of  any 
doubt  or  confusion  that  might  arise  from  this  source. 
Until  the  conclusion  of  the  fourth  century,  no  intimation 


246  THE    CONCLUSION. 

appears  of  any  attempt  whatever  being  made  to  counter- 
feit these  writings  ;  and  then  it  appears  only  of  a  single 
and  obscure  instance.  Jerome,  who  flourished  in  the 
year  ?92,  has  this  expression  :  "  Legunt  quidam  et  ad 
Laodicenses  ;  sed  ab  omnibus  exploditur  ;"  there  is  also 
an  epistle  to  the  Laodiceans,  but  it  is  rejected  by  every- 
body.* Theodoret,  who  wrote  in  the  year  423,  speaks 
of  this  epistle  in  the  same  terms.f  Besides  these,  I  know 
not  whether  any  ancient  writer  mentions  it.  It  was  cer- 
tainly unnoticed  during  the  first  three  centuries  of  the 
church ;  and,  when  it  came  afterwards  to  be  mentioned, 
it  was  mentioned  only  to  show  that,  though  such  a  writing 
did  exist,  it  obtained  no  credit.  It  is  probable  that  the 
forgery  to  which  Jerome  alludes  is  the  epistle  which  we 
now  have  under  that  title.  If  so,  as  hath  been  already 
observed,  it  is  nothing  more  than  a  collection  of  sentences 
from  the  genuine  epistles  ;  and  was,  perhaps,  at  first, 
rather  the  exercise  of  some  idle  pen,  than  any  serious 
attempt  to  impose  a  forgery  upon  the  public.  Of  an 
Epistle  to  the  Corinthians  under  St.  Paul's  name,  which 
was  brought  into  Europe  in  the  present  century,  antiquity 
is  entirely  silent.  It  was  unheard  of  for  sixteen  centu- 
ries ;  and  at  this  day,  though  it  be  extant,  and  was  first 
found  in  the  Armenian  language,  it  is  not,  by  the  Chris- 
tians of  that  country,  received  into  their  Scriptures.  I 
hope,  after  this,  that  there  is  no  reader  who  will  think 
there  is  any  competition  of  credit,  or  of  external  proof, 
between  these  and  the  received  epistles  ;  or,  rather,  who 
will  not  acknowledge  the  evidence  of  authenticity  to  be 
confirmed  by  the  want  of  success  which  attended  im- 
posture. 

When  we  take  into  our  hands  the  letters  which  the 
suflfrage  and  consent  of  antiquity  hath  thus  transmitted  to 

*  Lardner,  vol.  x.  p,  103.  f  Ibid,  vol.  xi.  p.  88. 


THE    CONCLUSION.  247 

US,  the  first  thing  that  strikes  our  attention  is  the  air  of 
reality  and  business,  as  well  as  of  seriousness  and  convic- 
tion, which  pervades  the  whole.     Let  the  sceptic  read 
them.     If  he   be  not  sensible  of  these  qualities  in  them, 
the   argument   can  have  no  weight   with    him.      If  he 
be ;  if  he  perceive  in  almost  every  page  the  language  of 
a  mind  actuated  by  real  occasions,  and  operating  upon   ; 
real  circumstances,  I  would  wish  it  to  be  observed,  that  -' 
the  proof  which  arises  from  this  perception  is  not  to  be  ; 
deemed  occult  or  imaginary,  because  it  is  incapable  of  '■ 
being  drawn  out  in  words,  or  of  being  conveyed  to  the  | 
apprehension  of  the  reader  in  any  other  way  than  by 
sending  him  to  the  books  themselves. 

And  here,  in  its  proper  place,  comes  in  the  argument 
which  it  has  been  the  office  of  these  pages  to  unfold. 
St.  Paul's  epistles  are  connected  with  the  history  by  their 
particularity,  and  by  the  numerous  circumstances  which 
are  found  in  them.  When  we  descend  to  an  examination 
and  comparison  of  these  circumstances,  we  not  only  ob- 
serve the  history  and  the  epistles  to  be  independent  doc- 
uments unknown  to,  or  at  least  unconsulted  by,  each 
other,  but  we  find  tiie  substance,  and  oftentimes  very 
minute  articles,  of  the  history,  recognized  in  the  epistles, 
by  allusions  and  references  which  can  neither  be  impu- 
ted to  design,  nor,  without  a  foundation  in  truth,  be  ac- 
counted for  by  accident ;  by  hints  and  expressions,  and 
single  words  dropping  as  it  were  fortuitously  from  the 
pen  of  the  writer,  or  drawn  forth,  each  by  some  occa- 
sion proper  to  the  place  in  which  it  occurs,  but  widely 
removed  from  any  view  to  consistency  or  agreement. 
These,  we  know,  are  effects  which  reality  naturally  pro- 
duces, but  which,  without  reality  at  the  bottom,  can 
hardly  be  conceived  to  exist. 

When,  therefore,  with  a  body  of  external  evidence, 


248  THE    CONCLUSION. 

which  is  relied  upon,  and  which  experience  proves  may 
safely  be  relied  upon,  in  appreciating  the  credit  of  ancient 
writings,  we  combine  characters  of  genuineness  and  orig- 
inality which  are  not  found,  and  which,  in  the  nature  and 
order  of  things  cannot  be  expected  to  be  found  in  spuri- 
ous compositions  ;  whatever  difficulties  we  may  meet 
with  in  other  topics  of  the  Christian  evidence,  we  can 
have  little  in  yielding  our  assent  to  the  following  conclu- 
sions :  That  there  was  such  a  person  as  St.  Paul ;  that 
he  lived  in  the  age  which  we  ascribe  to  him  ;  that  he 
went  about  preaching  the  religion  of  which  Jesus  Christ 
was  the  founder  :  and  that  the  letters  which  we  now 
read  were  actually  written  by  him  upon  the  subject,  and 
in  the  course  of  that  his  ministry. 

And,  if  it  be  true  that  we  are  in  possession  of  the  very 
letters  which  St.  Paul  wrote,  let  us  consider  what  confir- 
mation they  afford  to  the  Christian  history.  In  my  opin- 
ion they  substantiate  the  whole  transaction.  The  great 
object  of  modern  research  is  to  come  at  the  epistolary  cor- 
respondence of  the  times.  Amidst  the  obscurities,  the 
silence,  or  the  contradictions  of  history,  if  a  letter  can  be 
found,  we  regard  it  as  the  discovery  of  a  landmark;  as 
that  by  which  we  can  correct,  adjust,  or  supply,  the  im- 
perfections and  uncertainties  of  other  accounts.  One 
cause  of  the  superior  credit  which  is  attributed  to  letters 
is  this,  that  the  facts  which  they  disclose  generally  come 
out  incidentally,  and  therefore  without  design  to  mislead 
the  public  by  false  or  exaggerated  accounts.  This  rea- 
son may  be  applied  to  St.  Paul's  epistles  with  as  much 
justice  as  to  any  letters  whatever.  Nothing  could  be  far- 
ther  from  the  intention  of  the  writer  than  to  record  any 
part  of  his  history.  That  his  history  was  in  fact  made 
public  by  these  letters,  and  has,  by  the  same  means  been 
transmitted  to  future  ages,  is  a  secondary  and  unthought 


THE    CONCLUSION.  249 

of  effect.  The  sincerity,  therefore,  of  the  apostle's  decla- 
rations cannot  reasonably  be  disputed  ;  at  least  we  are 
sure  that  it  was  not  vitiated  by  any  desire  of  setting  him- 
self off  to  the  public  at  large.  But  these  letters  form  a 
part  of  the  muniments  of  Christianity,  as  much  to  be  val- 
ued for  their  contents  as  for  their  originality.  A  more 
inestimable  treasure  the  care  of  antiquity  could  not  have 
sent  down  to  us.  Besides  the  proof  they  afford  of  the 
general  reality  of  St.  Paul's  history,  of  the  knowledge 
which  the  author  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  had  obtained 
of  that  history,  and  the  consequent  probability  that  he 
was,  what  he  professes  himself  to  have  been,  a  compan- 
ion of  the  apostle's  ;  besides  the  support  they  lend  to  these 
important  inferences,  they  meet  specifically  some  of  the 
principal  objections  upon  which  the  adversaries  of  Chris- 
tianity have  thought  proper  to  rely.  In  particular  they 
show, — 

I.  That  Christianity  was  not  a  story  set  on  foot  amidst 
the  confusions  which  attended  and  immeditately  preceded 
the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  ;  when  many  extravagant 
reports  were  circulated,  when  men's  minds  were  broken 
by  terror  and  distress,  when  amidst  the  tumults  that  sur- 
rounded them  inquiry  was  impracticable.  These  letters 
show  incontestably,  that  the  religion  had  fixed  and  estab- 
lished itself  before  this  state  of  things  took  place. 

II.  Whereas  it  hath  been  insinuated  that  our  Gospels 
may  have  been  made  up  of  reports  and  stories  which 
were  current  at  the  time,  we  may  observe  that  with  re- 
spect to  the  Epistles,  this  is  impossible.  A  man  cannot 
write  the  history  of  his  own  life  from  reports  ;  nor,  what  is 
the  same  thing,  be  led  by  reports  to  refer  to  passages  and  ^ 
transactions  in  which  he  states  himself  to  have  been  im- 
mediately present  and  active.  I  do  not  allow  that  this 
insinuation  is  applied  to  the  historical  part  of  the  New 

11* 


250  THE    CONCLUSION. 

Testament  with  any  color  of  justice  or  probability  ;  but  I 
say  that  to  the  Epistles  it  is  not  applicable  at  all. 

III.  These  letters  prove  that  the  converts  to  Christian- 
ity w-ere  not  drawn  from  the  barbarous,  the  mean,  or  the 
ignorant  set  of  men  which  the  refiresentations  of  infidelity 
would  sometimes  make  them.  We  learn  from  letters  the 
character  not  only  of  the  writer,  but,  in  some  measure, 
of  the  persons  to  whom  they  are  written.  To  suppose 
that  these  letters  were  addressed  to  a  rude  tribe,  incapa- 
ble of  thought  or  reflection,  is  just  as  reasonable  as  to 
suppose  Locke's  Essay  on  the  Human  understanding  to 
have  been  written  for  the  instruction  of  savages.  What- 
ever may  be  thought  of  these  letters  in  other  respects, 
either  of  diction  or  argument,  they  are  certainly  removed 
as  far  as  possible  from  the  habits  and  comprehension  of 
a  barbarous  people. 

IV.  St.  Paul's  history,  I  mean  so  much  of  it  as  may  be 
collected  from  his  letters,  is  so  implicated  with,  that  of  the 
other  apostles,  and  with  the  substance  indeed  of  the  Chris- 
tian history  itself,  that  I  apprehend  it  will  be  found  im- 
possible to  admit  St.  Paul's  story  (I  do  not  speak  of  the 
miraculous  part  of  it)  to  be  true,  and  yet  to  reject  the  rest 
as  fabulous.  For  instance,  can  any  one  believe  that  there 
was  such  a  man  as  Paul,  a  preacher  of  Christianity,  in  the 
age  which  we  assign  to  him,  and  not  believe  that  there 
was  also  at  the  same  time  such  a  man  as  Peter  and 
James,  and  other  apostles,  who  had  been  companions  of 
Christ  during  his  life,  and  who  after  his  death  pubHshed 
and  avowed  the  same  things  concerning  him  which  Paul 
taught?  Judea,  and  especially  Jerusalem,  was  the  scene 
of  Christ's  ministry.  The  witnesses  of  his  miracles  lived 
there.  St.  Paul,  by  his  own  account,  as  well  as  that  of 
his  historian,  appears  to  have  frequently  visited  that  city  ; 
to  have  carried  on  a  communication  with  the   church 


i 


THE    CONCLUSION.  251 

there ;  to  have  associated  with  the  rulers  and  elders  of 
that  church,  who  were  some  of  them  apostles ;  to  have 
acted  as  occasions  offered,  in  correspondence,  and  some- 
times in  conjunction,  with  them.  Can  it,  after  this,  be 
doubted  but  that  the  religion  and  the  general  facts  relat- 
ing to  it  which  St.  Paul  appears  by  his  letters  to  have 
delivered  to  the  several  churches  which  he  established  at 
a  distance,  were  at  the  same  time  taught  and  published  at 
Jerusalem  itself,  the  place  where  the  business  was  trans- 
acted ;  and  taught  and  published  by  those  who  had  at- 
tended the  Founder  of  the  institution  in  his  miraculous, 
or  pretendedly  miraculous  ministry  ? 

iFiToFservable,  for  so  it  appears  both  in  the  Epistles 
and  from  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  that  Jerusalem,  and 
the  society  of  believers  in  that  city,  long  continued  the 
centre  from  which  the  missionaries  of  the  religion  issued, 
with  which  all  other  churches  maintained  a  correspond- 
ence and  connection,  to  which  they  referred  their  doubts, 
and  to  whose  relief,  in  times  of  public  distress,  they  remit- 
ted their  charitable  assistance.  This  observation  I  think 
material,  because  it  proves  that  this  was  not  the  case  of 
giving  ouf  accounts  in  one  country  of  what  is  transacted 
in  anothei^,  without  affording  the  hearers  an  opportunity 
of  knowing  whether  the  things  related  were  credited  by 
any,  or  even  published,  in  the  place  where  they  are  re- 
ported to  have  passed.  '.'i 

V.  St.  Paul's  letters  furnish  evidence  (and  what  better 
evidence  than  a  man's  own  letters  can  be  desired  ?)  of 
the  soundness  and  sobriety  of  his  judgment.  His  caution 
in  distinguishing  between  the  occasional  suggestions  of  in- 
spiration, and  the  ordinary  exercise  of  his  natural  under- 
standing, is  without  example  in  the  history  of  human 
enthusiasm.  His  morality  is  everywhere  calm,  pure  and 
rational ;  adapted  to  the  condition,  the  activity,  and   the 


252  THE    CONCLUSION. 

business  of  social  life,  and  of  its  vai'ious  relations  ;  free 
from  the  over-scrupulousness  and  austerities  of  supersti- 
tion, and  from,  what  was  more  perhaps  to  be  apprehended, 
the  abstractions  of  quietism,  and  the  soarings  and  extrav- 
agances of  fanaticism.  His  judgment  concerning  a  hesi- 
tating conscience ;  his  opinion  of  the  moral  indifferency 
of  many  actions,  yet  of  the  prudence  and  even  the  duty 
of  compliance,  where  non-compliance  would  produce  evil 
effects  upon  the  minds  of  the  persons  who  observed  it,  is 
as  correct  and  just  as  the  most  liberal  and  enlightened 
moi'alist  could  form  at  this  day.  The  accuracy  of  mod- 
ern ethics  has  found  nothing  to  amend  in  these  determi- 
nations. 

What  Lord  Lyttelton  has  remarked  of  the  preference 
ascribed  by  St.  Paul  to  inward  rectitude  of  principle 
above  every  other  religious  accomplishment  is  very  ma- 
terial to  our  present  purpose.  "  In  his  First  Epistle  to 
the  Corinthians,  chap.  xiii.  1 — 3.  St.  Paul  has  these  words: 
Though  I  speak  with  the  tongues  of  men  and  of  angelsj 
and  have  not  charity,  I  am  become  as  sounding  brass, 
or  a  tinkling  cymbal.  And  though  I  have  the  gift  of 
prophecy,  and  understand  all  mysteries,  and  all  knowledge ; 
and  though  I  have  all  faith,  so  that  I  could  remove  moun- 
tains, and  have  not  charity,  I  am  nothing.  And  though 
I  bestow  all  my  goods  to  feed  the  poor,  and  though  I  give 
my  body  to  be  burned,  and  have  not  charity,  it  profiteth 
me  nothing S  Is  this  the  language  of  enthusiasm?  Did 
ever  enthusiast  prefer  that  universal  benevolence  which 
comprehendeth  all  moral  virtues,  and  which,  as  appeareth 
by  the  following  verses,  is  meant  by  charity  here  ?  did 
ever  enthusiast,  I  say,  prefer  that  benevolence  ?  (which 
we  may  add  is  attainable  by  every  man)  "  to  faith  and  to 
miracles,  to  those  religious  opinions  which  he  had  em- 
braced, and  to  those  supernatural  graces  and  gifts  which 


THE    CONCLUSION.  253 

he  imngined  he  had  acquired  ;  nay,  even  to  the  merit  of 
martyrdom  ?  Is  it  not  the  genius  of  enthusiasm  to  set 
moral  virtues  infinitely  below  the  merit  of  faith  ;  and,  of 
all  moral  virtues,  to  value  that  least  which  is  most  par- 
ticularly enforced  by  St.  Paul,  a  spirit  of  candor,  modera- 
tion, and  peace  ?  Certainly  neither  the  temper  nor  the 
opinions  of  a  man  subject  to  fanatic  delusions  are  to  be 
found  in  this  passage."  Lord  Lyttelton's  Considerations 
on  the  Conversion,  ^c. 

I  see  no  reason  therefore  to  question  the  integrity  of 
his  understanding.  To  call  him  a  visionary  because  he 
appealed  to  visions,  or  an  enthusiast  because  he  pretended 
to  inspiration,  is  to  take  the  whole  question  for  granted. 
It  is  to  take  for  granted  that  no  such  visions  or  inspira- 
tions existed  ;  at  least  it  is  to  assume,  contrary  to  his  own 
assertions,  that  he  had  no  other  proofs  than  these  to  offer 
of  his  mission,  or  of  the  truth  of  his  relations. 

One  thing  I  allow,  that  his  letters  everywhere  discover 
great  zeal  and  earnestness  in  the  cause  in  which  he  was 
engaged  ;  that  is  to  say,  he  was  convinced  of  the  truth 
of  what  he  taught ;  he  was  deeply  impressed,  but  not 
more  so  than  the  occasion  merited,  with  a  sense  of  its 
importance.  This  produces  a  corresponding  animation 
and  solicitude  in  the  exercise  of  his  ministry.  But 
would  not  these  considerations,  supposing  them  to  be 
well  founded,  have  holden  the  same  place  and  produced 
the  same  effect,  in  a  mind  the  strongest  and  the  most 
sedate  ? 

VI.  These  letters  are  decisive  as  to  the  sufferings  of 
the  author  ;  also  as  to  the  distressed  state  of  the  Christian 
church,  and  the  dangers  which  attended  the  preaching  of 
the  Gospel. 

"  Whereof  I  Paul  am  made  a  minister ;  who  now  re- 
joice in  my  sufferings  for  you,  and  fill  up  that  which  is 


254  THE    CONCLUSION. 

behind  of  the  afflictions  of  Christ  in  my  flesh,  for  his  body's 
sake,  which  is  the  church."     Col.  chap.  i.  24. 

"  If  in  this  life  only  we  have  hope  in  Christ,  we  are  of 
all  men  most  miserable."     1  Cor.  chap.  xv.  19. 

"  Why  stand  we  in  Jeopardy  every  hour  ?  I  protest 
by  your  rejoicing,  whicn  1  have  in  Christ  Jesus  our 
Lord,  I  die  daily.  If,  after  the  manner  of  men,  I  have 
fought  with  beasts  at  Ephesus,  what  advantageth  it  me, 
if  the  dead  rise  not  ?"     1  Cor.  chap.  xv.  30,  &c. 

"  If  children,  then  heirs  ;  heirs  of  God,  and  joint  heirs 
with  Christ ;  if  so  be  that  we  sufl^er  with  him,  that  we 
may  be  also  glorified  together.  For  I  reckon  that  the 
sufferings  of  this  present  time  are  not  worthy  to  be  com- 
pared with  the  glory  which  shall  be  revealed  in  us." 
Rom.  chap.  viii.  17,  18. 

"  Who  shall  separate  us  from  the  love  of  Christ  ?  shall 
tribulation,  or  distress,  or  persecution,  or  famine,  or 
nakedness,  or  peril,  or  sword  ?  As  it  is  written.  For 
thy  sake  we  are  killed  all  the  day  long,  we  are  accounted 
as  sheep  for  the  slaughter.     Rom.  chap.  viii.  35,  36. 

*'  Rejoicing  in  hope,  'patient  in  tribulation,  continuing 
instant  in  prayer."     Rom.  chap.  vii.  12. 

"Now  concerning  virgins  I  have  no  commandment 
of  the  Lord  ;  yet  I  give  my  judgment  as  one  that  hath 
obtained  mercy  of  the  Lord  to  be  faithful.  I  suppose 
therefore  that  this  is  good  for  the  present  distress  ;  I  say 
that  it  is  good  for  a  man  so  to  be."  1  Cor.  chap.  vii. 
25,  26. 

"  For  unto  you  it  is  given,  in  the  behalf  of  Christ, 
not  only  to  believe  on  him,  but  also  to  suffer  for  his  sake, 
having  the  same  conflict  which  ye  saw  in  me,  and  now 
hear  to  be  in  me."     Phil.  chap.  i.  29,  30. 

*'  God  forbid  that  I  should  glory,  save  in  the  cross  of 


THE    CONCLUSION.  255 

our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  by  whom  the  world  is  crucified 
unto  me,  and  I  unto  the  world." 

"  From  henceforth  let  no  man  trouble  me,  for  I  bear  in 
my  body  the  marks  of  the  Lord  Jesus."  Gal.  chap.  vi. 
14,  17. 

"  Ye  became  followers  of  us,  and  of  the  Lord,  having 
received  the  word  in  much  affliction,  with  joy  of  the  Holy 
Ghost."     1  Thess.  chap.  i.  6. 

We  ourselves  glory  in  you  in  the  churches  of  God,  for 
your  patience  and  faith  in  all  your  persecutions  and  trib- 
ulations that  ye  endure."     2  Thess.  chap.  i.  4. 

We  may  seem  to  have  accumulated  texts  unnecessarily ; 
but,  besides  that  the  point  which  they  are  brought  to  prove 
is  of  great  importance,  there  is  this  also  to  be  remarked 
in  every  one  of  the  passages  cited,  that  the  allusion  is 
drawn  from  the  writer  by  the  argument  or  the  occasion : 
that  the  notice  which  is  taken  of  his  sufferings,  and  of  the 
suffering  condition  of  Christianity,  is  perfectly  incidental, 
and  is  dictated  by  no  design  of  stating  the  facts  themselves. 
Indeed  they  are  not  stated  at  all ;  they  may  rather  be  said 
to  be  assumed.  This  is  a  distinction  upon  which  we  have 
relied  a  good  deal  in  former  parts  of  this  treatise ;  and, 
where  the  writer's  information  cannot  be  doubted,  it  always 
in  my  opinion,  adds  greatly  to  the  value  and  credit  of 
the  testimony. 

If  any  reader  require  from  the  apostle  more  direct  and 
explicit  assertions  of  the  same  thing,  he  will  receive  full 
satisfaction  in  the  following  quotations. 

"  Are  they  ministers  of  Christ  ?  (I  speak  as  a  fool)  I 
am  more ;  in  labors  more  abundant,  in  stripes  above 
measure,  in  prisons  more  frequent,  in  deaths  oft.  Of  the 
Jews  five  times  received  I  forty  stripes  save  one.  Thrice 
was  I  beaten  with  rods,  once  was  I  stoned ;  thrice  I 
suffered  shipwreck,  a  night  and  a  day  I  have  been  in  the 


256  THE    CONCLUSION. 

deep  ;  in  journeyings  often,  in  perils  of  waters,  in  perils  of 
robbers,  in  perils  by  mine  own  countrymen,  in  perils  by 
the  heathen,  in  perils  in  the  city,  in  perils  in  the  wilderness, 
in  perils  in  the  sea,  in  perils  among  false  brethren ;  in 
weariness  and  pninfulness,  in  watchings  often,  in  hun- 
ger and  thirst,  in  fastings  often,  in  cold  and  nakedness." 
2  Cor.  chap.  xi.  23—28. 

Can  it  be  necessary  to  add  more ?  "I  think  that  God 
hath  set  forth  us  the  apostles  last,  as  it  were  appointed  to 
death ;  for  we  are  made  a  spectacle  unto  the  world,  and 
to  angels,  and  to  men.  Even  unto  this  present  hour  we 
both  hunger  and  thirst,  and  are  naked,  and  are  buffeted, 
and  have  no  certain  dwelling-place  ;  and  labor,  working 
with  our  own  hands :  being  reviled,  we  bless ;  being 
persecuted,  we  suffer  it ;  being  defamed,  we  entreat :  we 
are  made  as  the  filth  of  the  earth,  and  are  the  offscouring 
of  all  things  unto  this  day."  1  Cor.  chap.  iv.  9 — 13.  I 
subjoin  this  passage  to  the  former,  because  it  extends  to 
the  other  apostles  of  Christianity  much  of  that  which  St. 
Paul  declared  concerning  himself. 

In  the  following  quotations,  the  reference  to  the  au- 
thor's sufferings  is  accompanied  with  a  specification  of 
time  and  place,  and  with  an  appeal  for  the  truth  of  what 
he  declares  to  the  knowledge  of  the  persons  whom  he 
addresses :  "  Even  after  that  we  had  suffered  before,  and 
were  shamefully  entreated,  as  ye  know,  at  Philippi,  we 
were  bold  in  our  God  to  speak  unto  you  the  Gospel  of 
God  with  much  contention."     1  Thess.  chap.  ii.  2. 

"  But  thou  hast  fully  known  my  doctrine,  manner  of 
life,  purpose,  faith,  long-suffering,  persecutions,  afflictions, 
which  came  unto  me  at  Antioch,  at  Iconium,  at  Lystra  ; 
what  persecutions  I  endured :  but  out  of  them  all  the 
Lord  delivered  me."     2  Tim.  chap.  iii.  10,  11. 

I  apprehend  that  to  this  point,  as  far  as  the  testimony 


THE    CONCLUSION.  257 

of  St.  Paul  is  credited,  the  evidence  from  his  letters  is 
complete  and  full.  It  appears  under  every  form  in  which 
it  could  appear,  by  occasional  allusions  and  by  direct  as- 
sertions, by  general  declarations  and  by  specific  exam- 
ples. 

VII.  St.  Paul  in  these  letters  asserts,  in  positive  and 
unequivocal  terms,  his  performance  of  miracles  strictly 
and  properly  so  called. 

"  He  therefore  that  ministereth  to  you  the  Spirit,  and 
worketh  miracles  {sveqyiav  dvpa/ueig)  among  you,  doth  he 
it  by  the  works  of  the  law,  or  by  the  hearing  of  faith  ?" 
Gal.  chap.  iii.  5. 

"  For  I  will  not  dare  to  speak  of  any  of  those  things 
which  Christ  hath  not  wrought  by  me,*  to  make  the  Gen- 
tiles obedient,  by  word  and  deed,  through  mighty  signs 
and  wonders  (^^  dwa/uei  arjfxeioiv  xav  TfottTWj'),  by  the  power 
of  the  Spirit  of  God  :  so  that  from  Jerusalem,  and  round 
about  unto  Illyricum,  I  have  fully  preached  the  Gospel 
of  Christ."     Rom.  chap.  xv.  18,  19. 

"  Truly  the  signs  of  an  apostle  were  wrought  among 
you  in  all  patience,  in  signs  and  wonders,  and  mighty 

deeds,"  {^p  arj/neiotg  xai  reguai  xav  dvi'otfieai).-^      2  Cor.  chap. 

xii.  12. 

*  i.  e.  "I  will  speak  of  nothing  but  what  Christ  hath  wrought  by  me ;" 
or,  as  Grotius  interprets  it,  "  Christ  hath  wrought  so  great  things  by  me, 
that  I  will  not  dare  to  say  what  he  hath  not  wrought." 

■f-  To  these  may  be  added  the  following  indirect  allusions,  which,  though 
if  they  had  stood  alone,  i.  e.  without  plainer  texts  in  the  same  writings, 
they  might  have  been  accounted  dubious;  yet,  when  considered  in  conjunc- 
tion with  the  passages  already  cited,  can  hardly  receive  any  other  interpre- 
tation than  that  which  we  give  them. 

"  My  speech  and  my  preaching  was  not  with  enticing  words  of  man's 
wisdom,  but  in  demonstration  of  the  Spirit,  and  of  power :  that  your  faith 
should  not  stand  in  the  wisdom  of  men,  but  in  the  power  of  God."  1  Cor. 
chap.  ii.  4 — G, 

"  The  Gospel,  whereof  I  was  made  a  minister,  according  to  the  gift  of  the 


258  THE    CONCLUSION. 

These  words,  signs,  wonders,  and  mighty  deeds,  (ar^^eia^ 
xai  TSQuia,  x««  dvfajLieigj'^  are  the  Specific  appropriate  terms 
throughout  the  New  Testament,  employed  when  public 
sensible  miracles  are  intended  to  be  expressed.  This  will 
appear  by  consulting,  amongst  other  places,  the  texts 
referred  to  in  the  note  ;*  and  it  cannot  be  R^own  that 
they  are  ever  employed  to  express  any  thing  else. 

Secondly,  these  words  not  only  denote  miracles  as 
opposed  to  natural  effects,  but  they  denote  visible,  and 
what  may  be  called  external,  miracles,  as  distinguished. 

First,  from  inspiration.  If  St.  Paul  had  meant  to  re- 
fer only  to  secret  illuminations  of  his  understanding,  or 
secret  influences  upon  his  will  or  affections,  he  could  not, 
with  truth,  have  represented  them  as  "  signs  and  wonders 
wrought  by  him,"  or  "  signs,  and  wonders,  and  mighty 
deeds,  wrought  amongst  them." 

Secondly,  from  visions.  These  would  not,  by  any 
means,  satisfy  the  force  of  the  terms,  "  signs,  wonders, 
and  mighty  deeds  ;"  still  less  could  they  be  said  to  be 
^'wrought  by  him,"  or  "  wrought  amongst  them^"  nor  are 
these  terms  and  expressions  any  where  applied  to  visions. 
When  our  author  alludes  to  the  supernatural  communica- 
tions which  he  had  received,  either  by  vision  or  other- 
wise, he  uses  expressions  suited  to  the  nature  of  the  sub- 
ject, but  very  different  from  the  words  which  we  have 
quoted.    He  calls  them  revelations,  but  never  signs,  won- 

grace  of  God  given  unto  me  by  the  effectual  working  of  his  power."  Ephes. 
chap.  iii.  7. 

"For  he  that  wrought  effectually  in  Peter  to  the  apostleship  of  the  cir- 
cumcision, the  same  was  mighty  in  me  towards  the  Gentiles.''  Gal.  chap, 
ii.  8. 

"  For  our  Gospel  came  not  unto  you  in  word  only,  but  also  in  power,  and 
in  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  in  much  assurance."     1  Thess.  chap.  i.  5. 

*  Mark,  xvi.  20.  Luke,  xxiii.  8.  John,  ii.  11,  23;  iii.  2;  iv,  48,  54;  xi. 
49.     Acts,  ii.  22:  iv.  3;  v.  12:  vi.  8;  vii.  16;  xiv.  3;  xv.  12.     Heb.  ii.  4. 


THE    CONCLUSION.  259 

ders,  or  mighty  deeds.  "  I  will  come,"  says  he,  to  "  vis- 
ions and  revelations  of  the  Lord ;"  and  then  proceeds  to 
describe  a  particular  instance,  and  afterwards  adds,  "lest 
I  should  be  exalted  above  measure  through  the  abundance 
of  the  revelations,  there  vv^as  given  me  a  thorn  in  the 
flesh." 

Upon  the  whole,  the  matter  admits  of  no  softening  quali- 
fication or  ambiguity  whatever.  If  St.  Paul  did  not  work 
actual,  sensible,  public  miracles,  he  has  knowingly,  in 
these  letters,  borne  his  testimony  to  a  falsehood.  I  need 
not  add  that,  in  two  also  of  the  quotations,  he  has  advanced 
his  assertion  in  the  face  of  those  persons  amongst  whom 
he  declares  the  miracles  to  have  been  wrought. 

Let  it  be  remembered  that  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles 
describe  various  particular  miracles  wrought  by  St.  Paul, 
which  in  their  nature  answer  to  the  terms  and  expressions 
which  we  have  seen  to  be  used  by  St.  Paul  himself. 


Here  then  we  have  a  man  of  liberal  attainments,  and 
in  other  points  of  sound  judgment,  who  had  addicted  his 
life  to  the  service  of  the  Gospel.  We  see  him,  in  the 
prosecution  of  his  purpose,  travelling  from  country  to 
country,  enduring  every  species  of  hardship,  encounter- 
ing every  extremity  of  danger,  assaulted  by  the  popu- 
lace, punished  by  the  magistrates,  scourged,  beat,  stoned, 
left  for  dead ;  expecting,  wherever  he  came,  a  renewal  of 
the  same  treatment,  and  the  same  dangers ;  yet,  when 
driven  from  one  city,  preaching  in  the  next ;  spending  his 
whole  time  in  the  employment,  sacrificing  to  it  his  pleas- 
ures, his  ease,  his  safety ;  persisting  in  this  course  to  old 
age,  unaltered  by  the  experience  of  perverseness,  ingrat- 
itude, prejudice,  desertion :  unsubdued  by  anxiety,  want, 
labor,  persecutions  :  unwearied  by  long  confinement,  un- 
dismayed by  the  prospect  of  death.     SCich  was  St.  Paul. 


260  THE    CONCLUSION. 

We  have  his  letters  in  our  hands ;  we  have  also  a  history 
purporting  to  be  written  by  one  of  his  fellow-travellers, 
and  appearing,  by  a  comparison  with  these  letters,  cer- 
tainly to  have  been  written  by  some  person  well  ac- 
quainted with  the  transactions  of  his  life.  From  the 
letters,  as  well  as  from  the  history,  we  gather  not  only 
the  account  which  we  have  stated  of  him,  but  that  he 
was  one  out  of  many  who  acted  and  suffered  in  the  same 
manner;  and  that,  of  those  who  did  so,  several  had  been 
the  companions  of  Christ's  ministry,  the  ocular  witnesses, 
or  pretending  to  be  such,  of  his  miracles,  and  of  his  res- 
urrection. We  moreover  find  this  same  person  referring 
in  his  letters  to  his  supernatural  conversion,  the  particu- 
lars and  accompanying  circumstances  of  which  are  re- 
lated in  the  history;  and  which  accompanying  circum- 
stances, if  all  or  any  of  them  be  true,  render  it  impossible 
to  have  been  a  delusion.  We  also  find  him  positively, 
and  in  appropriated  terms,  asserting  that  he  himself 
worked  miracles,  strictly  and  properly  so  called,  in  sup- 
port of  the  mission  which  he  executed  ;  the  history, 
meanwhile,  recording  various  passages  of  his  ministry, 
which  come  up  to  the  extent  of  this  assertion.  The 
question  is,  whether  falsehood  was  ever  attested  by  evi- 
dence like  this.  Falsehoods,  we  know,  have  found  their 
way  into  reports,  into  tradition,  into  books  ;  but  is  an  ex- 
ample to  be  met  with  of  a  man  voluntarily  undertaking 
a  life  of  want  and  pain,  of  incessant  fatigue,  of  continual 
peril  ;  submitting  to  the  loss  of  his  home  and  country,  to 
stripes  and  stoning,  to  tedious  imprisonment,  and  the  con- 
stant expectation  of  a  violent  death,  for  the  sake  of  car- 
rying about  a  story  of  what  was  false,  and  of  what,  if 
false,  he  must  have  known  to  be  so  ? 

THE    END. 


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